Native authorities say a “sizable group” of escaped primates remains to be energetic exterior a South Carolina facility linked to “brain disorder research.” The incident could sound like dystopian sci-fi fodder, however the lab monkeys apparently pose no public well being threat, facility administration informed police.
But, the Yemassee, South Carolina Police Division is urging the general public to keep away from the close by space the place dozens of younger rhesus macaques lately fled. Of the 43 runaways initially disclosed by the Alpha Genesis Primate Analysis Heart—often called the “monkey farm” to locals—18 stay on the free close to the South Carolina coast, a Sunday-night replace shared on the division’s Facebook page mentioned. The division cautioned residents to secure their doors and windows to stop the primates from moving into their houses.
The escaped macaques are reportedly all feminine, weigh roughly six kilos, and had been too younger to have been utilized in any analysis. They’ve been on the free since round 1 p.m. ET on November 6, and a “sizable group stays energetic alongside the fence line and at the moment have bedded down within the bushes for the night time,” per the Fb replace.
As for the way the primates escaped within the first place, Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard blamed it on “purely human error” in an announcement to NBC final week. “The incident yesterday concerned a brand new enclosure, and occurred as a result of the caretaker who was doing routine cleansing and feeding did not safe two separate doorways,” he mentioned.
Together with discouraging the general public from interacting with the primates in any method, police urged residents to “AVOID FLYING DRONES” close by after one apparently spooked the monkeys final week, complicating seize efforts. The primates which have been captured to this point are in “good well being,” the police claimed.
“She is effectively and having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich,” mentioned Westergaard of one of many captured macaques in one other assertion.
“This isn’t the primary time this particular plant has had this concern,” one commenter identified on the native police division’s Fb web page. “Preserve working little fellows,” one other replied.
Alpha Genesis, which claims to offer “solely the most effective and most cost-effective primate analysis,” has seen quite a few escapes over the previous decade and confronted hundreds of {dollars} in related fines from the Department of Agriculture, based on native paper the Post and Courier.
Close by, Alpha Genesis manages a federally funded analysis facility on Morgan Island, which locals have dubbed Monkey Island. The positioning is house to hundreds of primates and faces ongoing scrutiny from animal rights advocates in addition to South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace.
“Taxpayers shouldn’t be compelled to spend $20 billion per 12 months on wasteful and merciless experiments involving canine, cats, monkeys, and different animals,” Mace wrote on X in January.
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