Leofoo Village Theme Park was given one month to improve its baboon facility and six months to finish microchipping and registering its baboons, the Council of Agriculture’s (COA) Forestry Bureau said on Friday, following a public outcry over the killing of a runaway baboon.
The order came after Agricultural Technology Research Institute president Chen Cheng-wen (陳正文), bureau officials, animal caretakers from Taipei Zoo and academics carried out an inspection at the facility.
Leofoo Village has come under close scrutiny after a baboon that escaped from its facility was shot and killed by a hunter on Monday last week in an attempted capture.
Photo: Liao Hsueh-ju, Taipei Times
The park had previously denied that the baboon was one of its animals, and only on Wednesday evening did it reverse its statement, saying it made a mistake counting its baboons.
The park’s failure to promptly identify and contain the baboon has raised questions over the management of its animals.
The electric fence around the baboon area is too low, and trees are planted too close to the area, which increases the chances of baboons escaping, the bureau said in a statement, adding that the risk would be increased when trees have not been trimmed for a long time or when they become slanted.
Management of the electronic gate was found to be “porous,” and the primates could escape if caretakers did not pay attention, the bureau said.
It gave the park one month to elevate the electric fence, trim the trees around the baboon area, and train employees on the prevention of animal escapes and the management of electronic gates when shuttles are passing through.
As the geography of the baboon area is complicated, and there are many culverts in which baboons could hide, it is difficult to manually count the animals, the bureau said.
As such, the bureau ordered the park to have all its baboons microchipped and registered within six months.
The inspection team also said that the environment in which the baboons live could be improved by leveling the ground, establishing more resting platforms, setting up cameras to better learn about the baboons’ habits and adding four to five more feeding areas.
The bureau asked the park to capture drone footage of the baboons and their habitat every day starting on Friday, for the Agricultural Technology Research Institute to create an artificial intelligence identification model, which, if successful, would improve the park’s management of baboons.
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