One-armed baboon escapes and bites woman in small Ontario town

An attack from an escaped, one-armed baboon in a small, Ontario town has the mayor fighting for stronger exotic animal laws.

The baboon named Mark escaped and bit a woman in her 40s in Latchford, a town of about 300 people, nearly 500 kilometres north of Toronto.

The incident happened in October, Latchford Mayor Sharon Gadoury-East tells insauga.com but it is making headlines now because she recently spoke about it at the Timiskaming Municipal Association meeting — a committee of over 20 municipalities.

Gadoury-East wanted to get support to bring the issue of exotic animal laws to the federal or provincial government.

At the time of the incident, Latchford’s animal bylaw didn’t include bites from primates or other exotic animals only dogs and cats, she says.

“So the police couldn’t go couldn’t charge them because of the fact that we didn’t have it in our bylaw, that it was an exotic animal,” she says.

They have since changed the bylaw but Gadoury-East believes the laws aren’t strong enough. A provincial or federal law would mean police could enforce laws and charge offenders. Currently, police can choose to get involved if it is a matter of public safety.

Recently, an escaped kangaroo in Oshawa also raised concerns about Ontario’s exotic animal laws. Ontario has long been criticized for its patchwork of laws that allow unregulated zoos in some parts of the province, often referred to as “roadside zoos.”

The woman who was bitten has recovered after going to the emergency department and receiving a regimen of antibiotics, the mayor says.

But in such a small town, the woman is forced to walk by the baboon’s home, which is on the main street, says Gadoury-East.

“I know she’s scared because, you know, she’s got to go by there all the time. So she worries. And even some of the people in town don’t even want to walk (there) because they’re scared if it gets out again,” Gadoury-East says.

The baboon has lived in the home for many years, before the town enacted the animal bylaw in 2017, which prohibits residents from keeping exotic pets. However, Mark is grandfathered in because he lived in the town before 2017.

Gadoury-East believes there are other exotic animals living in the same home with Mark but the owner hasn’t freely offered that information.

“They had other animals that have gotten out,” she says.

And while the town prohibits exotic animals, they wouldn’t know if a new resident moved to the community bringing more animals.

Gadoury-East suggests a federal law would help prevent this from happening in the future and help the community with policing the issue.

“I’m still fighting this and doing what I can.”