Greater than 40 monkeys have been on the free Thursday in a small US city after escaping a analysis facility, with authorities warning residents to maintain their doorways and home windows closed.
The rhesus macaques – described as “skittish” by police in Yemassee, South Carolina – have been reported to have fled their enclosures a day earlier at a facility run by Alpha Genesis, which focuses on primate-based biomedical analysis.
Search groups have been deployed to assist find the monkeys and have been “working to entice them with food,” the native police division mentioned on social media.
“Residents are urged to keep their doors and windows securely closed and to report any sighting immediately by dialing 911. Please do not attempt to approach these animals under any circumstances,” it mentioned.
The police pressure added that each one the 43 primates have been younger females weighing as much as seven kilos (three kilograms), and that they’d not been used for testing.
“A spokesman from Alpha Genesis can confirm that these animals are too young to carry disease,” it mentioned.
Greg Westergaard, CEO of Alpha Genesis, mentioned the escape was “frustrating,” telling CBS Information he’s “hoping for a happy ending” with the primates returning of their very own volition.
He mentioned that the primates have been capable of roam free after a caretaker didn’t safe a door at an enclosure.
“It’s really like follow-the-leader. You see one go and the others go,” Westergaard mentioned.
