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.
The primates broke loose from a Alpha Genesis facility in Beaufort County and traps have been set up and thermal imaging cameras are being used in an effort to locate the fugitive monkeys, the Yemassee Police Department said in a statement.
In an update posted Thursday, police confirmed 43 rhesus macaque primates escaped and none had been captured as of early afternoon. Authorities said the primates were "very young females weighing approximately 6-7 lbs" and had never been used for testing due to their age.
"Alpha Genesis currently have eyes on the primates and are working to entice them with food," police said, describing the monkeys as "skittish."
"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 the monkey escape is "frustrating" and he is "hoping for a happy ending" with the primates returning of their own volition.
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."
"I couldn't believe it, to be honest with you," he said. "It does happen that one can sneak out once in a while. It is very unusual to have a big group like this."
Westergaard said they are using have-a-heart traps, which are designed to lure the monkeys in with food before a door closes behind them and traps them inside.
"There are some little things to eat in the woods but no apples, which is what they really like, so we are hoping that will draw them in the next day or two," he said.
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.
The Post and Courier reported that 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.
