43 monkeys escape South Carolina research facility; police warn residents to secure doors and windows

Authorities in South Carolina on Thursday warned residents to lock their doors and windows after more than 40 monkeys escaped from a research facility. As of Friday morning, the fugitive monkeys still had not been captured, the CEO of the research facility told CBS News.

The 43 primates broke loose from an Alpha Genesis facility in Beaufort County, prompting officials to set up traps and use thermal imaging cameras in an effort to locate and capture the monkeys, the Yemassee Police Department said. In an update posted to social media late Thursday, police said the primates had been spotted in a wooded region near the facility and urged residents to steer clear of the animals.

"The staff at Alpha Genesis are currently attempting to entice the animals back using food in order to ensure their safe capture," police said.

Alpha Genesis earlier confirmed that 43 rhesus macaque primates escaped from an enclosure at the company's facility. Authorities said the primates were "very young females weighing approximately 6-7 lbs" and had never been used for testing due to their age.

"Residents are strongly advised to keep doors and windows secured to prevent these animals from entering homes," police said earlier. "If you spot any of the escaped animals, please contact 911 immediately and refrain from approaching them."

Greg Westergaard, CEO of Alpha Genesis, told CBS News on Friday that while they have not captured any of the animals, the monkeys are staying close to the facility and are "being goofy monkeys jumping back and forth playing with each other."

"It's kind of like a playground situation here," he said.

Westergaard said the company has put out baited traps but the monkeys are not going inside them yet.

"They're jumping down and taking the food and then jumping back up on the fence and the tree line," he added. "They're watching us the same way we're watching them."

He acknowledged that it would be a long process to get them back. He said that chasing the monkeys would only spook them and make them run away.

"We've got them very close," Westergaard said. "This is all like what we want to see."

On Thursday, Westergaard told CBS News that a caretaker inadvertently failed to secure a door at an enclosure, allowing the monkeys to roam free. 

"It's really like follow-the-leader. You see one go and the others go," Westergaard said. "It was a group of 50 and 7 stayed behind and 43 bolted out the door."

Daniel Vance, a land surveyor, told CBS News that he and a coworker were taking a lunch break nearby on Wednesday when they spotted some of the monkeys, and he said he captured video footage of them.

The Yemassee Police Department said multiple officers were working with Alpha Genesis personnel to recapture the primates.

"We want to assure the community that there is no health risk associated with these animals," police said in its update Thursday.

According to its website, Alpha Genesis breeds monkeys and provides "nonhuman primate products and bio-research services" across the globe. The company's clinical trials reportedly include research on progressive brain disorders. 

Alpha Genesis says its staff of veterinary technicians and animal specialists work with cynomolgous, rhesus and capuchin monkeys.

The Post and Courier newspaper reported last year that Alpha Genesis won a federal contract to oversee a colony of 3,500 rhesus monkeys on South Carolina's Morgan Island, known as "Monkey Island." Rhesus macaques were imported to the U.S. in the 1970s for biomedical research in laboratories, according to the New England Primate Conservancy.

Rhesus macaques are "bold, extremely curious, and adventurous monkeys" and the species is "highly adaptable to coexisting alongside humans," the conservancy says.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed in a statement that the monkeys were previously living on Morgan Island as "free-range monkeys" and were brought to the Alpha Genesis facility "for conditioning to be around people."  

The facility is registered with the CDC as a nonhuman primates importer, which means it "must meet standards for the importation, quarantine, and use of NHPs," the agency said.

The CDC added that "the risk to the public is low as long as people do not approach or come in contact" with the monkeys. 

Monkeys have escaped from Alpha Genesis before. Eight years ago, 19 primates escaped from the company's facility but were recaptured about six hours later.

Last year in Pennsylvania, dozens of lab monkeys escaped after a truck carrying 100 of the animals crashed. All the primates were later accounted for.

Anna Schecter contributed to this report.

In:
• South Carolina