Eyewitness NewsJACKSON (WABC) -- Officials at Great Adventure say a baboon captured in Howell, New Jersey on Saturday afternoon appears to belong to them. The animal appeared unharmed when found on a farm in the area of Fairfield and Merrick Roads around 2:40 p.m.
The baboon was spotted in Freehold before being captured on that farm.
The animal was tranquilized and taken to Six Flags Great Adventure for a physical exam and health assessment.
Although the animal did not have a microchip, Great Adventure said it felt confident it is the baboon escapted from the park.The baboon was probably too young for the chip to be implanted. They are typically implanted between ages 2 and 3.
Kristen Siebeneicher, the park's communications director, said Friday night that the Great Adventure baboons are vaccinated, fenced in and implanted with microchips.
All the sightings over the past two days and the eventual capture were in areas not far from Six Flags Great Adventure's Monkey Jungle in Jackson Township, leading to speculation that the baboon may have escaped from the park, which has 150 baboons.
"I saw the red hiney and I knew it was a baboon - instant panic!" said eyewitness Stacey Murphy.
Murphy was in the kitchen making food for the 4th of July when she made her first sighting.
"It just walked here like it was nothing. It was on all fours. If it was standing up, how tall would it have been? My height?" she said.
Murphy then screamed at the top of her lungs - so loud it woke her 12-year-old son up.
The first baboon sighting came Thursday, when a driver said the animal was near Interstate 195, and later that day a woman said a baboon was sitting on her back porch in Jackson.
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Some information from The Associated Press
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