What we know after 43 monkeys escaped from a research facility in South Carolina

more than 40 monkeys escaped from a research facility in South Carolina on Wednesday, prompting warnings to nearby residents to secure their doors and windows. Thirty-five of the escaped monkeys have been safely captured, but eight others were still at large on Thursday, officials said.

Here’s what we know so far:

Where exactly did the monkeys in South Carolina flee?

The primates broke loose from Alpha Genesis in Yemassee, Beaufort County, South Carolina.

The company confirmed that 43 rhesus macaque primates escaped from an enclosure at one of its facilities.

The Yemassee Police Department said Thursday that baited traps were set up and thermal cameras were used in an effort to catch the monkeys.

ESCAPED PRIMATES UPDATE – 5:50 p.m. Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard told CBS News earlier today that the 43 primates escaped…

Submitted by Yemassee Police Department on Wednesday 6 November 2024

“Residents are strongly advised to keep doors and windows secured to prevent these animals from entering their homes,” police said. “If you spot any of the escaped animals, call 911 immediately and do not approach them.”

How did the monkeys escape the research facility?

Greg Westergaard, executive director of Alpha Genesis, told CBS News on Thursday that a caretaker inadvertently failed to secure a door at the enclosure to allow the monkeys to roam freely.

“It’s really like following the leader. You see one go and the others go,” he said. “It was a group of 50 and 7 that stayed and 43 jumped out the door.”

He told CBS News on Friday that the monkeys stay close to the facility.

“They’re just silly monkeys jumping back and forth and playing with each other,” he said. “It’s kind of like a playground situation here.”

Westergaard said the company has put out baited traps, but the monkeys were reluctant to enter them.

“They jump down and take the food and then jump back up onto the fence and the tree line,” he added. “They see us the same way we see them.”

He acknowledged that it would be a long process to get them back and that they did not want to chase the monkeys because it would scare them and make them run away.

“We have them very close,” Westergaard said. “It’s all just like what we want to see.”

Have the monkeys been found again?

30 of the monkeys were found on Monday evening, according to Westergaard. He said they were “safe and sound and in good health.”

After first finding one of the monkeys on Saturday, police said the others were still a few feet from the property, jumping back and forth over the facility’s fence, the Associated Press reported.

Westergaard told CBS News that efforts to recover the remaining monkeys would “continue as long as it takes.”

What kind of monkeys are they?

The monkeys that escaped are rhesus macaque primates, which have brown fur with red faces and ears. They have short-cropped hair on their heads, which accentuates their very expressive faces.

Rhesus macaques are Asian Old World monkeys found primarily in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Southeast Asia, and China.

Rhesus macaques were imported to the United States in the 1970s for biomedical research in laboratories, according to the New England Primate Conservancy.

Rhesus macaques are “bold, extremely curious and adventurous monkeys,” and the species is “highly adaptable to coexisting with humans,” the nature reserve says.

The typical diet of the rhesus macaque includes roots, fruit, seeds and bark, as well as insects and small animals.

What did they use the monkeys to test?

According to its website, Alpha Genesis breeds monkeys and provides “non-human primate products and bio-research services” around the globe. The company’s clinical trials allegedly include research into progressive brain diseases.

Local authorities said Thursday that the escaped primates were “very young females weighing around 6-7 lbs” and had never been used for testing due to their age.

Alpha Genesis says its staff of veterinary technicians and animal specialists work with cynomolgous, rhesus and capuchin monkeys.

The Post and courier the newspaper reported last year that Alpha Genesis won a federal contract to oversee a colony of 3,500 rhesus monkeys on South Carolina’s Morgan Island, known as “Monkey Island.”

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed in a statement that the monkeys previously lived on Morgan Island as “free-ranging monkeys” and were brought to the Alpha Genesis facility “to be able to be around humans.”

The facility is registered with the CDC as an importer of nonhuman primates, which means it “must meet standards for the importation, quarantine and use of NHPs,” the agency said.

The CDC added that “the risk to the public is low as long as people do not approach or come into contact” with the monkeys.

How often do research monkeys escape?

This is not the first time primates have escaped from Alpha Genesis.

Eight years ago, 19 primates escaped from the company’s facility, but was recaptured about six hours later.

CBS affiliate WCSC in Charleston reported at the time that local officials said the escapes were not rare, but generally the monkeys return to the site because they know that’s where the food is.

“Every couple of years we’ll have one or two come out. We’ve never had this many come out,” Westergaard told CBS News on Friday.

Last year in Pennsylvania, dozens of lab monkeys escaped after a truck carrying 100 of the animals crashed. All primates were later stood for.

Research facility has history of USDA violations

A study of CBS affiliate WTOC found that in 2022, Alpha Genesis received eight violations from the USDA, including one housing facilities violation and a veterinary violation.

The report found that in the first eight months of 2022, six monkeys were placed in the wrong enclosures – one animal was found dead from “trauma caused by the resident animals in the enclosure” and four animals subsequently required veterinary treatment.

WTOC also reported that during the same period, there were six separate occasions when monkeys escaped their enclosures. After these escapes, the company repaired the chain link and got rid of some of the cages that were broken, the station writes.

Alpha Genesis was last inspected by the USDA in May 2024 and received no violations. The report shows that at the time of the inspection, there were at least 6,701 monkeys on the property, WTOC reported.

Anna Schecter contributed to this report.