The "Prestwick Baboon"

Here's a story that is interesting, odd, and possibly relevant to the whole British Bigfoot controversy. It was brought to my attention last week by big-cat authority Mark Fraser and appeared in the Ayrshire Post newspaper on January 17, 1999.

Almost 10 years have passed since the episode occurred. Can anyone fill in the gaps or provide an update?

Here's the text of the article:


Baboon sighted near Prestwick Airport

A motorist spotted what he believed was a "Baboon-like creature" on the Shaw Farm Road in Prestwick, not far from the airport. Police rushed to the scene, and as the officers got to within 30 yards of the animal it disappeared into the undergrowth.

A police spokeswoman said yesterday: “We received a call from a local man who said he’d narrowly avoided hitting a baboon-like creature on Shaw Farm Road, Prestwick. A patrol car was sent out and after a search of the area the officers reported seeing an animal of some sort, although they couldn’t be sure what it was.”

Checks were also made at the airport which had received a cargo of livestock, but there were no reports of escaped baboons. One senior policeman said: “The officers were very careful how they phrased the sighting over the radio. The mickey taking could have been merciless and they didn’t want to make monkeys of themselves.”

No Scottish zoo’s keep baboons, but experts admitted that some one may have had one as a pet.