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Baboon's bid for freedom short-lived

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SAN ANTONIO, July 14 (UPI) -- A baboon being kept at a medical research facility in Texas was back behind bars Friday a half hour after he escaped from a transfer cage.

The wandering animal is one of 6,000 primates housed at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in San Antonio. Dr. John VandeBurg, director of primate research, told KENS-TV the baboon made his break while he was being transferred to the medical center to have a cut treated.

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"Apparently, the latch was faulty on the transfer cage, and when nobody was looking, the baboon was able to open the transfer cage and escape," he said.

The baboon, instead of seeking the wide open spaces, returned to his home cage where he is one of a group of 20. But he took off when he was approached by a worker armed with a tranquilizer gun.

He was traveling in the direction of major roadways but was sedated and returned home before he got that far.

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