Mystery surrounds monkey’s escape in South Carolina town as police warn
A South Carolina city remains on lockdown as officials try to capture more than a dozen lab monkeys that are still on the loose.
So far, 25 of the 43 primates have been captured after escaping from a research facility called the “monkey farm” near the small town of Yemassee, which is less than 50 miles from Charleston.
Residents are being urged to keep their doors and windows locked as local authorities try to attract the animals with food and traps.
Residents are particularly concerned that they have been asked to lock their doors and windows following the outbreak.
Charlotte Murray, a local business owner, told DailyMail.com that people were more afraid of the monkeys during this outbreak than in previous years.
Murray said: ‘Normally the center does a great job during escapes, but this is the first time I remember them asking people to keep doors and windows locked. That’s a shift.’
Police also issued a strict order against the use of drones in the area after a remote-controlled vessel startled a monkey that researchers were trying to capture.
The monkeys scare easily and it makes it much harder to catch them later, said Dr. Greg Westergaard, the CEO of the facility, called Alpha Genesis.
The two-pound rhesus monkeys have taken up residence in the forest adjacent to the facility, cooing over the fence to their fellow primates and jumping from tree to tree.
Dr. Westergaard said the monkeys are all young and healthy and have yet to be tested so they do not pose a threat to humans.
Still, Yemassee police warned against approaching the monkeys and urged citizens to call 911 if they spot one.
They recommend avoiding the wooded area around the facility, where the remaining monkeys appear to be making their camp.
The facility, which houses more than a thousand monkeys, is located on the outskirts of the town of Yemassee – 50 miles west of Charleston
Dr. Westergaard said capturing the animals could take a while because they can’t chase the monkeys because that would scare them.
Instead, they have left trails of fruit to entice the macaques into falling into traps that close behind them. But 18 remain at large.
This isn’t the first time monkeys have escaped from the Alpha Genesis lab. In 2016, 19 monkeys escaped from the research center, but were recaptured within a day.
In 2014, 26 monkeys escaped and were recaptured within a few days, earning Alpha Genesis a $12,600 bump from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
And there were six breakout events in 2022 alone.
A local resident recalled these previous escapes on X, saying, “The monkeys escape from Yemassee every year. That happens every year! The workers forget to lock the cages and go crazy!’
There are currently several thousand monkeys in this facility on over 100 hectares of land. It is one of the largest monkey testing facilities in the country.
This time the monkeys escaped after a worker closed but forgot to lock the door to their enclosure.
Dr. Westergaard said the primates probably leaned against the door and opened it. When someone realized he could leave, an entire group followed suit.
Residents of Yemassee, a town of 1,000 less than 50 miles west of Charleston, have been told to lock their doors and windows to prevent the primates from entering their homes.
The rhesus monkeys that escaped the facility are all young females, weighing about six to seven pounds, about the size of a house cat. The macaque pictured is an adult specimen from India and is not from the Alpha Genesis facility
Dr. Westergaard told CBS News: ‘It’s really a kind of follow-the-leader. You see one go and the others go’.
The unnamed employee is reportedly currently facing disciplinary action.
The group that committed the robbery was all young women who had never been used in tests. They are too young to carry diseases and pose no threat to humans.
Vets have been sent to the area to carry out additional welfare checks on the monkeys that remain at large, and police have announced that they appear to be in good condition.
The Yemassee Police Department provides periodic updates on the status of the monkeys. An update on November 7 said: ‘These animals are very sensitive and easily startled. We urge the public to avoid the area to avoid causing further fear.”
At the facility, Alpha Genesis breeds, breeds and conducts tests on primates, including rhesus monkeys and capuchin monkeys.
The monkeys have been used to research everything from Alzheimer’s disease to the Zika virus.
The company’s website states that they are used in vaccine development and virus research, and that they also sell blood, cells and plasma from the primates to other researchers.