Animal keepers at a safari park believe visitors are “arming” baboons with tools such as knives, screwdrivers and a chainsaw to wreak havoc on cars.
The baboons at Knowsley safari park in Merseyside have been known to rip off windscreen wipers and wing mirrors from the cars of visitors.
But it has been claimed some visitors are trying to help increase the damage caused to vehicles by the animals by supplying weapons “for a laugh”.
The 550-acre safari park reopened its doors on June 15 following the coronavirus lockdown.
One member of staff at the park has been left confused by sightings of the baboons wielding weapons and wondered whether the tools had been given to the animals, or if they had taken them from visitors’ toolboxes when they stopped in their enclosure.
A source said: “The baboons have been found with knives and screwdrivers. I do wonder if it’s some of the guests handing them out.
“We’re not sure if they are being given weapons by some of the guests who want to see them attack cars, or if they’re fishing them out of pick-up trucks and vans.
“They will literally go into people’s toolboxes and carry them around. One of the baboons was seen lugging around a chainsaw.”
Previously, the park had to warn visitors that baboons had worked out how to unlock rooftop boxes.
But a spokesman for the park suggested armed apes were an urban myth.
He added: “We believe many of these stories have grown in exaggeration as they’ve been retold.”
