A police investigation is underway after 40 monkeys escaped from a research facility in South Carolina on Wednesday evening.
Police in Yemassee, Beaufort County, said the animals escaped from Alpha Genesis, a company that provides “non-human primate products and bioresearch services,” according to its website.
Traps have been set up and officers are using thermal imaging 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 treatments for brain diseases, and says it has “one of the largest and most comprehensive non-human primate facilities specifically designed for monkeys in the United States. “
The sheriff’s department has not specified the breed of the fugitive primates, but the company’s website says it works with macaques and capuchin monkeys.
It is also not known which tests the escaped monkeys participated in, nor whether they were exposed to diseases. Alpha Genesis did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
The company won a federal contract to 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 in Beaufort County reported that primate escapes have occurred in the area several times, including in May of this year and in 2016, when 19 people evaded security at Alpha Genesis before being captured six hours later. recaptured.
In 2022, three monkeys escaped after a traffic accident in rural Pennsylvania.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
