A resident of the South Carolina town home to dozens of monkeys has revealed their terrifying encounter with one of the ‘sick’ animals from a separate incident.
This Wednesday afternoon, 43 rhesus monkeys escaped from a research facility known as the “monkey farm” in Yemassee, a town of just 1,000 residents about 50 miles west of Charleston.
It sparked a major search operation with police setting up traps and cameras across the city and urging locals to lock their doors and windows to keep the primates out – although officers insist there is ‘no threat’ to public health.
Residents say they have dealt with multiple escapes involving monkeys linked to the Alpha Genesis laboratory in recent years – but this is the first time they have been told to lock down their homes.
A local business owner, who wished to remain anonymous, told DailyMail.com how in a separate incident they came face to face with a monkey with a ‘softball-sized’ tumor on its neck and a crazed look in its eyes. took place in 2020.
Locals heard crashing on the roof of their shop and came out to find the animal on top of their air conditioner, describing it as ‘freaky’.
‘It looked sick, this monkey, he looked very unhappy. There was something in the monkey’s eyes,’ they said. “So we called the police, and they told the lab – and then people came with dangerous clothing to take it away.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Greg Westergaard, CEO of Alpha Genesis, told DailyMail.com that the latest accident occurred after a caretaker failed to properly close the gate of an outdoor enclosure housing a group of young female monkeys.
The images above show one of the escaped monkeys in forests near the laboratory
Local business owner Charlotte Murray said she was not concerned, although this was the first time she had heard of so many monkeys escaping from the facility.
“It’s not like they left the door open,” he said, “the person closed it, but the latch wasn’t properly secured so it was ‘monkey proof.’
“And then they all went out in a flood. If you look at a flock of birds in the sky, it was a bit like that.”
The Alpha Genesis facility raises monkeys that can be used for vaccine and drug research for a range of diseases.
Dr. Westergaard said the current troop of escaped monkeys did not pose a threat to infect humans because they had not yet been used in experiments.
The escaped monkeys are usually small females weighing 6 to 7 pounds, Dr. Westergaard said, who are “skittish” and sensitive to loud noises and sudden movements.
He said police tracked them to a forest near the facility, where baited traps are deployed to recapture them.
But local business owner Charlotte Murray said she is aware of residents who claim to have witnessed the primates in their yards.
Ms Murray, who has lived in the area for decades, told DailyMail.com: ‘The center normally does a great job during escapes but this is the first time I remember them asking people to lock doors and windows keep. That’s a shift.
‘I have seen escaped monkeys near the provincial government campus before, but it has been a while since this happened.
‘Generally speaking, we are not very scared here. They are sweet animals, and I understand that these (last escapees) are very small, so I am not afraid.”
Despite police advice to lock down homes, DailyMail.com spoke to several other residents who seemed equally unconcerned.
One joked that they were planning to put out bananas as a treat for the animals.
Dr. Greg Westergaard, the CEO of Alpha Genesis, said the escaped monkeys were currently in the trees near the center. The video is from the Island Packet
The facility, which houses more than a thousand monkeys, is located on the outskirts of the town of Yemassee – 50 miles west of Charleston
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A Report 2022 from the USDA found that there were six recorded escapes between January and August of that year.
In one case, a troop of ten monkeys escaped through a weak chain link in their fencing, while in three other incidents monkeys managed to remove wooden panels separating their cages.
There was also an incident where one monkey escaped and left medical aid behind
Alpha Genesis was fined $12,000 in June 2018 due to four previous escapes and other problems with its enclosures.
The above image shows a monkey in an enclosure in the center. The escaped monkeys had been there for a month. The video is from the Island package
Forty monkeys have escaped from a research facility in South Carolina. Pictured above is a wild macaque in Thailand
In 2016, 19 monkeys broke out of their cage and were captured almost six hours later.
And in December 2014, when about 26 monkeys also escaped from the facility.
Alpha Genesis also operates another monkey housing facility on Morgan Island, just off the coast of South Carolina.
In total, it houses more than 5,000 monkeys across its two sites.