Simians in S.A.

First it's Bigfoot, now it's something else.

Following news reports about a woman who told police she had seen the elusive Sasquatch near Loop 1604 and Texas 151 Monday night, workers at JD's Paint and Body Shop on Wednesday released a murky video that shows what appears to be a hairy animal the workers say has been foraging around their trash bin for several weeks now.

Fidel Amaton, who is a technician at the body shop, was the first to see the animal early last month as he was throwing trash into the bin behind the shop. Amaton said it was early in the morning and he still was rubbing the sleep from his eyes when he was startled by what appeared to be a monkey that jumped out of the bin.

He said that unlike the 6-foot-tall “Bigfoot” sighted near Loop 1604, this animal was about 3 feet tall. It bared its teeth and let out a high-pitched hiss before it scaled the fence to the neighboring business.

(from the Express-News) (Yes, there's video, but it's not very good.)

Looks like the Alamo City is getting a bit more ape-friendly.

And for those of you who might suspect the animal is a baboon from Southwest Research, they swear they're not missing any.

But he did wonder if the animal could have escaped from the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, which keeps baboons on hand and is located just north of the shop at Loop 410 and Texas 151.

The two immediately called the foundation. Adrian Duarte, the shop's manager, said that a few hours later, two individuals showed up to inspect the prints. He said the men told them they resembled a baboon's print.

Foundation officials said Wednesday they don't know what it is but they do know it's not theirs.

I bet it's somebody's pet monkey that escaped or was turned loose because they couldn't care for the animal any more. Or I guess it could be a baby Bigfoot.

What do you think?