SYDNEY, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- While it's not entirely unusual to find the odd kangaroo or emu wandering around the outer suburbs of Sydney, the Australian city, seeing three baboons on the loose roaming the grounds of an inner city hospital Tuesday, has left witnesses stunned.
The bizarre incident occurred when the trio of primates were transported from a medical research facility to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital on Tuesday evening for a medical procedure.
According to authorities the male baboon was headed to the hospital to undergo a vasectomy, while the two females were in attendance to calm his nerves while traveling.
New South Wales (NSW) State Health Minister Brad Hazzard said when baboons arrived at the hospital, "the lock on the vehicle failed" and the animals made their escape.
"Last I heard they'd had a good look around the precinct and ended up in the car park where they were behaving far better than what we'd expect of baboons," he joked with reporters.
"They obviously decided that inspecting the premises was an appropriate way to spend a couple of hours at the hospital."
Sending the area into lock down, expert animal catchers called in from Sydney's Taronga Zoo eventually recaptured the mischievous explorers with no injuries or damage to the public.
"We watched them go around the car park and under the Marie Bashir building," an eye witness named Michael told 9 News.
"It was quite funny, we couldn't hear anything but we could see the reaction of all these people."
"Some people weren't even phased by it and other people were freaking out about it."
On Wednesday morning, the NSW Department of Health announced they would be conducting a full investigation into the incident.
