43 monkeys on the loose after escaping from US research laboratory

Police are hunting for 43 monkeys who escaped from a South Carolina research facility after a keeper left their pen open.

The rhesus macaque escapees were euthanized by Alpha Genesis, a company that breeds primates for medical testing and research, and are on the loose in a part of the state known as the Lowcountry.

Authorities have urged residents to keep their doors and windows securely closed and to report any sightings immediately. The escaped monkeys are young females weighing about 7 lbs (3.2 kg) each, according to the Yemassee Police Department.

Police said on Thursday that the company had located the “skitish” group and was “working to lure them with food”.

“Do not under any circumstances attempt to approach these animals,” police said.

The statement added that traps had been set in the area and that police were on the scene “using thermal cameras in an attempt to locate the animals”.

Police say the research firm has told them that because of their size, the monkeys have not yet been tested and “are too young to carry disease”.

Greg Westergaard, chief executive of Alpha Genesis, has said the flight is “frustrating”.

He told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner network, that he was “hoping for a happy ending” and that the monkeys would return to the facility on their own.

Mr. Westergaard said the monkeys had escaped on Wednesday after a keeper left a door open to their outdoor enclosure. He said they were now “hanging out in the woods”.

“It’s really like following the leader. You see one go and the others go,” said Mr. Westergaard.

“It was a group of 50 and 7 that stayed and 43 jumped out the door.”

“There are some little things to eat in the woods but no apples that they really like,” he said, “so we’re hoping that will draw them over the next day or two”.

Speaking to the South Carolina newspaper The Post and the Courierhe added that catching the monkeys had become more difficult because of the weather, saying that efforts were “slightly hampered by the rain as the monkeys have been thrown down”.

According to The Post and Courier, this is not the first time monkeys have escaped from the facility.

In 2016, 19 monkeys escaped before being returned about six hours later. Two years earlier, 26 primates escaped the facility.

The town of Yemassee, 60 miles (100 km) east of Charleston, has a population of less than 1,100.

Congresswoman Nancy Mace, who represents South Carolina in the House of Representatives, tweeted that her office is “diligently gathering all relevant information to keep our constituents informed about the recent primate escape”.

Macaques are known to be aggressive and competitive, but Yemassee Police Chief Gregory Alexander said at a news conference Thursday that “there is almost no danger to the public.”

Earlier this year, a Japanese macaque named Honshu escaped from a zoo in Scotland.

After more than five days on the loose, he was located by a drone and then shot with a tranquilizer dart before being returned to the zoo.