Three baboons still loose at Paris zoo after 50 escaped

All the primates have been returned to their pens with the exception of “an elderly female, a young female and a baby”, said Sophie Ferreira-Le Morvan, the deputy head of the National Museum of Natural History.

They remain in the area of the “grand rocher”, a landmark central mountain inaccessible to the public at the Paris zoological park in the Vincennes area of the French capital.

The three baboons are “under surveillance”, Ferreira-Le Morvan said, and the zoo will not reopen until they are captured.

Police officers outside Paris’s main zoo, with the “grand rocher”, where three baboons remain, visible in the background

The breakout was first noticed by a zoo worker, who saw the primates gathering in a service corridor used by personnel late Friday morning.

Safety procedures were “immediately” triggered, the zoo said in a statement, with a total of 60 firefighters, 20 police and all of the zoo’s staff mobilised to capture the animals.

None of the baboons reached public areas and the evacuation was ordered as a precaution, the zoo said.