A tiny Ontario town has been shaken by what may be the most sensational news story in its history, with subject matter that is almost too absurd to believe.

Latchford, Ontario is a quiet community about five hours directly north of Toronto, and home to just over 300 residents — human residents, that is, who apparently live among some very interesting critters. Among them is a one-armed baboon who went rogue and bit a fellow local last month.

The single-armed primate, who is named Mark and is known to those in the area, managed to escape from his owner's home and run amok for an hour, eventually crossing a highway and sinking his teeth into a neighbour before he finally responded to calls to return.

The woman in her 40s had to seek medical care and is recovering under supervision, and will never be able to donate blood or organs as a result of the attack.

According to Latchford Mayor Sharon Gadoury-East, the ordeal shows big loopholes in exotic animal legislation, for which municipalities have to create and enforce their own bylaws.

While the Province of Ontario does have a Exotic Wildlife in Captivity Act, it only states that people are not permitted to keep such animals in a zoo environment "except under the authority of a licence and in accordance with the regulations," with exceptions.

Stricter rules apply to native wildlife, but the province fails to regulate ownership of other animals (save for Pitbulls).

In this case, Gadoury-East says Latchford's bylaws were too vague for Mark's owner to be in violation of any — prompting the municipality to change their wording in case of future events, as unlikely as they may be.

"The owner couldn't be charged because our bylaw for animal bites only specifies a cat or dog. So we have now had to change it to say any animal," she tells blogTO.

"At one time the federal government had a bylaw, but passed it off to the provinces, which have passed it off on the municipalities. That leaves it on municipalities to police it. We are a town of a little over 300 people and it costs us to police, so yes this is frustrating and I worry about other little municipalities too."

Gadoury-East also points out that even if an animal was to be seized, the Latchford and towns like it don't have the resources to deal with them properly.

"There is no place to put them. Our animal control couldn't house them or feed them," she says.

Other nearby communities are now likewise reassessing their own bylaws, while the Latchford mayor has reached out to local MPPs.