Police told nine.com.au officers were on the scene outside Royal Prince Alfred Hospital after being contacted at about 5.30pm.
They later confirmed the three baboons had escaped from a research facility. They also said the situation was controlled.“Police and wildlife handlers now have the situation under control, so please let them do their job and don’t be tempted to pry, mates,” police tweeted.
One caller to radio station 2GB said he had seen three baboons in the carpark from his sixth-floor vantage point inside the hospital.
“They even had shiny red bottoms,” he told host Ben Fordham.“I had a coffee about an hour ago, and I thought, what have I put in this coffee?”
Another caller said her daughter, an occupational therapist at the hospital, had seen a baboon running past her as she left the building at the end of her shift.
“She texted me, ‘Mum, they were psychotic’,” she said.
Video shows several animals running past people outside the hospital.
In a statement, Sydney Local Health District said police and Taronga Zoo experts had helped resolve the situation.
“There is no threat to the safety of staff, patients or visitors,” they said.
Animal Justice Party MLC Emma Hurst said the baboons represented the “hidden faces behind animal experimentation in this country”.
“These baboons must be feeling so frightened and so alone – seeing the faces of these victims has left the public shocked and distressed,” she said.
However, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the male was simply scheduled for a vasectomy, with the other two baboons there to keep him comfortable, the Daily Telegraph reported.
