A town in South Carolina remains on lockdown, as officials try to catch the remaining monkeys that escaped from a testing facility last week.
The weekend proved crucial to the capture effort, as 25 of the 43 rhesus macaques that escaped from the Alpha Genesis research facility last Wednesday were returned to their enclosure.
However, police in Yemassi said in A Share Facebook They are still working to bring back the 18 who are still at large.
The Facebook post quotes Greg Vestergaard, CEO Alpha Genesis“The recovery process is slow, but the team is committed to taking the time necessary to safely recover all remaining animals,” he said.
Police said a “large group” of the missing monkeys had been found and could be seen making their home among the trees along the property’s fence line. In a previous update, they confirmed that the animals were “jumping back and forth over the facility’s fence” and that staff and management were on site to help feed the animals.
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They added that veterinarians visited the site and that “initial reports from the veterinary team indicate that all… The recovered animals are in good health“.
Last week, residents of Yemassee, who live about 100 kilometers west of Charleston, were warned to lock their doors and secure their windows to prevent monkeys from entering their homes.
The primates, all “very small” females weighing about six or seven pounds, were not used in the testing, and police said they confirmed with Alpha Genesis that the animals were too small to carry the disease.
Yemassee City Manager Matthew Garnes confirmed last week that the escaped monkeys escaped when a new employee at the Alpha Genesis Center ran away. They left their tent door open.
In an interview with CBS News last week, Vestergaard said He described the escape as “frustrating.”
“It’s really like following the leader. You see one go and the others go,” Vestergaard said. “It was a group of 50 people and seven stayed behind and 43 people walked out the door.”
Alpha Genesis, according to its website, breeds monkeys and primates and provides “non-human primate products and bioresearch services,” including plasma, serum, tissue samples and whole blood.
The local Post and Courier newspaper reported that the monkeys did this He disappeared from the facility before Eight years ago, 19 primates escaped, but they were all captured within six hours.
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