The Yemassee Police Department, located in South Carolina, USA, has issued an emergency alert following the confirmed escape of 43 monkeys from a local laboratory yesterday.
The Rhesus monkeys, also known as golden monkeys, were being housed at the Alpha Genesis research facility, a company specializing in providing non-human primates for scientific experiments.
Search teams have been deployed to help locate the group of monkeys and are “using food to lure them in,” according to local police. “Residents are advised to secure their doors and windows and to call 911 immediately if they spot any monkeys.”
Outside the Alpha Genesis research facility, where the monkeys escaped.
The police stated that all 43 golden monkeys are juvenile females, weighing only about 3 kilograms, and they were not being used for experimentation. “A spokesperson for Alpha Genesis can confirm that these animals are too young to carry diseases,” the police noted, implying that they are unlikely to spread illness.
Despite this, authorities still urge the public to “please refrain from attempting to approach these animals under any circumstances.”
Greg Westergaard, CEO of Alpha Genesis, explained that the escape occurred because a guard at the research facility failed to lock the monkey enclosure. Subsequently, a lead monkey led the others to escape.
“It was a large troop of 50 monkeys, and only 7 stayed behind, while 43 rushed out the door. The monkeys followed their leader. You see one go, and then the others follow,” Westergaard stated. “Honestly, I can’t believe it. Occasionally, monkeys do escape, but they’ve never done so in such a large group before.”
The monkeys are believed to have escaped following a leader. (Illustrative image).
Founded in 2003, Alpha Genesis, Inc. is a company that specializes in providing experimental services related to non-human primates. They frequently enter into research contracts, supplying primate samples, blood, and tissue for testing to research facilities across the United States.
“We also provide comfortable housing facilities for non-human primates in both the CDC’s containment and non-containment areas at reasonable costs,” Alpha Genesis stated on its website.
However, it seems the monkeys are not keen on those comfortable accommodations. There have been at least four incidents of monkeys escaping from the Alpha Genesis laboratory in the past decade.
In 2014, 26 monkeys escaped and were recaptured within 48 hours. A week later, another monkey escaped and was never recaptured.
Six months later, two more monkeys escaped; one died from injuries after being shot with a dart. Then, in 2016, another monkey managed to get out after its cage was secured with a clip instead of a lock.
Inside the golden monkey housing at Alpha Genesis.
The United States Department of Agriculture fined Alpha Genesis $12,600 for these escape incidents and two other violations—one involving at least six monkeys suffering from severe dehydration and another where an injured monkey died after being mistakenly placed in the wrong enclosure, leading to an attack by other monkeys.
Westergaard, CEO of Alpha Genesis, is now hoping that the monkeys will return to the laboratory on their own. Meanwhile, the Yemassee police are actively setting traps and using thermal cameras to search for the escaped monkeys.
