Headlines out of Paris had already been dramatic this week. The riverbanks of the Seine were overflowing, the Louvre shut down its lower floors to protect priceless art, and rats were swarming the streets in droves—and then came the baboons.

Fifty-two, to be exact, escaped from the Paris Zoological Park in the outskirts of the city. The zoo was evacuated and keepers deployed a rehearsed plan for just such an escape, which entailed deploying a large safety device, reports Le Parisien.

It took no less than 80 emergency responders, many armed with pop-up fences and tranquilizer guns.

By Friday afternoon, all except four of the baboons had been reportedly captured and returned to their enclosure. Zookeepers told