TEXAS RESEARCH FACILITY BABOONS ESCAPED FROM WAS INVESTIGATED FOR ANIMAL ABUSE

BY CHANTAL DA SILVA ON 4/18/18 AT 8:40 AM

Updated | A Texas biomedical research facility that made headlines this week after four baboons managed an elaborate escape from their enclosure has a "history" of animal welfare violations. The facility was once fined more than $25,500 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture over its transgressions, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) said.

HSUS Vice President of Animal Research Issues Kathleen Conlee told Newsweek that "there has been a history of animal welfare violations" at the federally-funded Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio, where baboons were able to escape from their enclosure on Saturday by rolling a barrel to an upright position and using it to climb over a fence.

The escaped baboons were quickly rounded up by institute workers, who were filmed chasing after the primates in masks and protective equipment.

Conlee said HSUS has found primates at the institute, which houses more than 2,500 animals, including 1,100 baboons, for research, were being kept in "poor conditions" without "a lot of enrichment or opportunities to engage in natural behavior." She said there were also cases of unnecessary injuries or deaths, with dead animals being left in their enclosures for days.


More:
http://www.newsweek.com/texas-research-facility-baboons-escaped-was-investigated-animal-abuse-890991

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Ingenious baboons escape a research lab in Texas by using their captor's 55-gallon barrel to climb a wall and make a run for freedom
Three baboons made a break for freedom, escaping their enclosure on Saturday
A fourth baboon also scaled the wall but had second thoughts and aborted
Officials have now revealed an 'enrichment tool' in their pen led to the break out
Clever creatures propped it against its perimeter walls and scaled the fences
By TIM COLLINS FOR MAILONLINE and AFP

PUBLISHED: 13:58 EDT, 17 April 2018 | UPDATED: 17:55 EDT, 18 April 2018

Three baboons used a 55 gallon (250 litre) barrel to escape from a biomedical research facility over the weekend, it has emerged.

They took the barrel - placed in their enclosure as an 'enrichment tool' - and propped it up near a perimeter wall, officials said.

A fourth baboon also scaled the wall, but had second thoughts and returned to confinement while the other three made a run for freedom.

The troop had a brief taste of a life away from medical experiments, before handlers captured them.

More:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5626779/Baboons-escape-Texas-biomedical-research-facility.html