Baboon escape sparks animal activist protest

Protesters fighting for an end to animal experimentation have gathered in front of a Sydney hospital after three baboons escaped from its animal research facility last week.

About 100 people turned up to the protest at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Camperdown this afternoon to call for an end to animal experimentation.

The protest was organised after a 15-year-old baboon and his two female companions escaped while being transported to the hospital’s animal research facility on Tuesday evening.

The baboons are part of a colony in western Sydney used for research on reproductive health, kidney disease and gestational diabetes.

The NSW health minister insisted the primates were not at the facility for research purposes but rather the male was due for a vasectomy.

The incident has reignited concerns over the welfare of animals used for experiments.

Activist group Sydney Save Animals in Laboratories on Sunday said people had come together to take a stand for all the animals being tested at RPA.

“We have a large crowd of concerned citizens of Sydney, concerned about any bio security risks that could have happened with the baboons that escaped the other day,” a spokesman said in a Facebook video.

Many protesters held signs of photos of the three runaway baboons and with posters that said “No excuse for animal abuse” and “Shut down animal labs”.