Four baboons escaped their enclosure at a San Antonio biomedical research facility Saturday. A woman then spotted one leading researchers on a wild foot chase down a Texas highway. All of the baboons were safely returned according to a statement. https://abcn.ws/2qziJpt pic.twitter.com/pPBW4V5ZIu ||||| Though four baboons did escape, officials said everything is under control and nobody has anything to worry about. (Source: Dorian Reyna) 
 
 SAN ANTONIO, TX (KSAT/CNN) - Four baboons were on the run in Texas and the challenge of getting them back to a research facility they escaped from was caught on camera. 
 
 "I see four guys clapping at the bushes and I didn't really give it a second thought," said Jannelle Bouton, who witnessed the escape. "I just went about driving and then all of a sudden, this brown, big mass pops out of the bushes. I'm like 'okay, that's a big dog.’" 
 
 But it wasn’t a dog. It was a baboon. 
 
 "And he was furry and he was brown and he was pretty big," she explained. 
 
 But the baboon Bouton saw on her way to the store is only one of four that escaped the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, a facility that conducts research on chronic and infectious diseases. 
 
 "And the baboon stopped and one point and was just looking and then darted into the bushes. And these guys are frazzled. They are freaking out," Bouton recalled. 
 
 Though four baboons did escape, officials said everything is under control and nobody has anything to worry about. 
 
 Even though the public had nothing to worry about, Bouton said the workers charged with capturing the animals did. 
 
 "And you could tell that they were. They were panicking because they didn't want them to get hurt and they were trying their best to quarantine him. But being that kind of animal, he wasn't having it,” she said." 
 
 Bouton said she's not too worried about the monkeys getting out, but she is a little concerned. 
 
 "The fact that they had a medical mask on and it's a wild animal, it's a monkey, let alone. You just want to know what they're doing is safe," she stressed. 
 
 The institute said its primary focus was the safety of the animals, their staff and people in the community. 
 
 They said the baboons, critical in research for heart disease, diabetes and obesity, were seen by care staff and are doing well. 
 
 Copyright 2018 KSAT via CNN. All rights reserved. ||||| Image copyright AFP/Getty Image caption There are about 1,100 baboons at the research facility 
 
 Officials at Texas research centre have made changes to the enclosures after four baboons leapt to freedom. 
 
 The primates propped up barrels against the walls of their yard at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute and used them to jump over the fence. 
 
 Three baboons then escaped the centre perimeter, while the fourth returned to its pen on its own. 
 
 All three of the escapees were captured within half an hour. There are about 1,100 baboons in the facility. 
 
 The San Antonio institute issued a press release detailing the escape and the animals' recapture. 
 
 According to the statement, the baboons rolled a 55-gallon barrel up against the wall of their open-air yard to escape. 
 
 The enclosure at the Southwest National Primate Research Center (SNPRC) - part of the research institute - has been in use for 35 years. 
 
 Researchers gave the baboons the barrels as an "enrichment tool", to help them mimic foraging as they would in the wild. 
 
 Staff immediately removed the barrels once they realised the primates had used them to jump the walls. 
 
 Dr John Bernal, a vet at the SNPRC, said one of the baboons made it onto a road. The priority for the staff was "was ensuring the baboon was not hurt by traffic". 
 
 Lisa Cruz, assistant vice president for communications, called it a "truly unique incident". 
 
 "We have nearly 1,100 baboons on the property that date back eight generations. Baboons, as with all our animals, are critical to biomedical research." 
 
 The statement explains these baboons were not part of an active study or part of infectious disease research, and so were not infected. 
 
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– Animal researchers saw the 55-pound barrel as an "enrichment tool." Baboons, to whom it was given, apparently saw only a means for escape. Indeed, four baboons briefly escaped the Texas Biomedical Research Institute Saturday after propping a barrel against a wall of their open-air enclosure and using it to hop to the other side, per the San Antonio Express-News. "One of the baboons said, 'I am going to try to make this leap,' and jumped on top of the wall and out," the Washington Post quotes an official as saying. In what he calls "typical monkey see, monkey do" behavior, three other baboons followed suit. The animals didn't have long to enjoy their freedom, though: One returned to the enclosure on its own, while the others were tracked down within 30 minutes. Two were captured near a tree line, but one reached a nearby road. A video shared by ABC News shows researchers chasing a baboon as cars whiz by. A passerby tells KSAT she saw "four guys clapping at the bushes. I just went about driving and then all of a sudden this brown big mass pops out." Luckily the escaped baboons are doing well, and they weren't involved in any infectious disease research at the institute, where new vaccines and medicines are developed. But the barrels, which were to help the baboons mimic foraging behavior, will be removed to prevent future escapes. Noting the facility has housed baboons for more than 50 years—it currently has 1,100—a rep says "this was truly a unique incident," per the BBC.