Apes escape from the Alpha Genesis research facility in South Carolina

A police search is underway after 43 monkeys escaped from a research facility in South Carolina on Wednesday night.

Police in Yemassee, Beaufort County, said the rhesus macaque primates escaped from Alpha Genesis, a company that provides “non-human primate products and bio-research services,” according to its website.

The monkeys were a group of “very young females” that have never been used for testing. A spokesman for Alpha Genesis confirmed to police that the animals “are too young to carry disease,” according to the police statement.

“Alpha Genesis currently has eyes on the primates and is working to bait them with food,” police said Thursday afternoon.

Traps have also been set up and officers are using thermal cameras in an attempt to recapture the animals, police said.

“Residents are strongly advised to keep doors and windows secured to prevent these animals from entering their homes,” the Yemassee Sheriff’s Department said in a statement. Anyone who finds a monkey should not interact with it, but instead call 911, it said.

The company works with monkeys to conduct clinical trials, including on brain disease disorder treatments and says it has “one of the largest and most comprehensive nonhuman primate facilities, designed specifically for monkeys, in the United States.”

Alpha Genesis did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News overnight.

The company secured a federal contract for run a colony of 3,500 monkeys on Morgan Island off the coast of South Carolina, also known as Monkey Island.

The Post and Courier newspaper of Beaufort County reported that there have been primate escapes several times before in the area, including in May this year, and in 2016, when 19 evaded security at Alpha Genesis before being recaptured six hours later.

In 2022, three monkeys escaped after a traffic accident in rural Pennsylvania.