Police Search Underway After 40 Monkeys Escape Facility in South Carolina
This is no time for monkeying around.
After all, there are monkeys on the loose. Or at least, there are in Yemassee, South Carolina, after 40 primates escaped from a research facility Nov. 6, local police confirmed.
“Traps have been set up around the area,” the statement shared to Facebook read, “and the Yemassee Police Department is currently on-site utilizing thermal imaging cameras in an attempt to locate the animals.”
And in addition to warning residents against approaching the animals—and instead ask they call 911—police added, “Residents are strongly advised to keep doors and windows secured to prevent these animals from entering homes.”
Police confirmed the animals escaped from Alpha Genesis Incorporated, a research facility which, according to its website, “provides the highest quality nonhuman primate products and bio-research services world-wide.”
The department did not confirm what breed of monkeys are on the loose, but Alpha Genesis’ website notes it works with macaque and capuchin monkeys. It has also not been confirmed whether the escaped monkeys have been exposed to any diseases, and the company did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
According to NBC News, Alpha Genesis helps carry out clinical trials using monkeys, including on treatments for brain disease disorders such as Alzheimer’s, and has "one of the largest and most comprehensive nonhuman primate facilities, designed specifically for monkeys, in the United States."
And indeed, last year the company secured a contract to run a colony of 3,500 monkeys on Morgan Island—an uninhabited island off the coast of the state that is better known as “Monkey Island” due to the colony of rhesus monkeys used for research that have lived there since 1979.
Previously, local Beaufort County’s The Post and Courier newspaper, according to NBC News, reported that primates have escaped the island several times before, including in May of this year. And in 2016, 19 evaded Alpha Genesis security before they were secured six hours later.
As one user quipped in the comment section of the police department’s Nov. 4 statement, “Monkey Island Part Two: Monkey Mainland.”
(E! News and NBC News are both part of NBCUniversal.)
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