I guess ‘wet market bats’ weren’t enough? Now we have loose lab monkeys in the United States. If I didn’t find the police report I would have thought this was a joke.
The Yemassee Police Department (YPD) is working with the Alpha Genesis research facility in South Carolina to locate and capture 43 rhesus macaque primates that escaped from their enclosure on Wednesday afternoon.
According to the YPD’s social media post, the monkeys were described as “very young females weighing approximately 6-7lbs” and were not being used for testing due to their youth. An Alpha Genesis spokesperson also confirmed that the monkeys were too young to have any diseases.
The YPD and Alpha Genesis are working together to safely re-capture the primates, who are currently being monitored by the facility’s staff as they try to entice them with food. The police have asked the public to avoid the area around Alpha Genesis and to not make any loud noises or sudden movements that could spook the primates and hinder their capture. The BCSO also shared a photo of what the rhesus macaques look like, in case anyone spots them in the area.
Alpha Genesis Inc. is a breeding facility for research monkeys, as reported by The Post and Courier in 2023. In a recent federal inspection, it was found that the facility was housing 6,701 primates. A similar incident occurred in 2016 when 19 monkeys managed to escape from the premises and were at large for six hours before being found and returned.
YPD Chief Gregory Alexander has warned the public against trying to approach or capture the escaped animals on their own.
He encourages anyone who spots them to call 911 immediately. “We’re getting a lot of people on our social media asking if they can take these monkeys home or pet them,” he said. “But I want to remind everyone that these are not pets and taking them home or trying to handle them is a felony because they don’t belong to you.”
The Yemassee Police Department and Alpha Genesis are working diligently to locate and re-capture the 43 escaped monkeys. The public is advised to stay away from the area and to leave the capture to the professionals. Any sightings should be reported to 911 to ensure the safety of both the public and the monkeys.
The timing of this is not lost on me. What do you think is going on? Let me know in the comments below.