1 escaped monkey captured in South Carolina, several others located on property

'She is well and having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.'

ByJanice McDonald and Ivan Pereira WTVD logo
Sunday, November 10, 2024 5:17AM
1 escaped monkey captured in SC, several others located on property
1 escaped monkey captured in SC, several others located on propertyOfficials captured at least one of 43 escaped monkeys in South Carolina on Saturday.

YEMASEE, S.C. -- The ongoing operation to capture 43 monkeys that escaped from a South Carolina lab nabbed at least one of the furry runaways on Saturday, according to officials, ABC News reported.

Officials in the town of Yemasee said they recovered overnight one of the rhesus macaque monkeys that had escaped from Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center on Wednesday.

"She is well and having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich," Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard said in a statement.

Yemasee officials said that "a significant number" of the escaped primates were located in a facility near where the rescued animal was found and were "jumping back and forth over the facility's fence."

"Alpha Genesis management and staff are on-site, actively feeding and monitoring the animals, and they will continue these efforts throughout the weekend," the town's officials said in a statement.

"The primates continue to interact with their companions inside the facility, which is a positive sign," they added.

Westergaard said the monkeys were having a nap Saturday afternoon.

"They are coming down to the ground a bit more now. It is a slow process," he said.

The creatures escaped when a new employee at the Alpha Genesis center left the door to their enclosure open, Yemassee Town Administrator Matthew Garnes said during a briefing Thursday with town officials.

The primates are all very young females weighing 6 to 7 pounds each who have never been tested, according to police. There is no public health threat, police said.

ABC News' Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report.

The video in the player above is from a previous report.

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