Monkey mayhem in South Carolina after 43 primates escape research facility

By Graham Hurley, CNN

(CNN) — Residents in a small South Carolina town are finding themselves in the middle of a real-life game of Jumanji after 43 monkeys escaped Wednesday from a research facility.

The rhesus macaque primates are all still on the loose as of Friday night after escaping from the Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center in Yemassee.

In a Friday night update, the Yemassee Police Department said that Alpha Genesis staff and management were on site feeding and monitoring the animals at the perimeter of the facility.

Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard expressed optimism regarding the monkeys’ behavior Friday, police wrote. The facility is using “Have a Heart” traps, which are designed in a humane way with a trap door.

Westergaard revealed that a couple of the primates entered the traps but not enough to activate the doors. “He believes the best way to recapture the animals is a passive humane way,” police wrote Friday.

Police are advising the public to steer away from the facility and to not fly drones above the area. “Flying drones over these animals hinders the safe recapture, it also makes it more difficult to keep them calm,” police said.

The runaway primates have been seen “playfully exploring the perimeter fence of the facility, engaging with those still inside by cooing to them,” police said earlier Friday. The monkeys are “exhibiting calm and playful behavior, which is a positive indication,” police said.

Residents have been asked to keep doors and windows closed to prevent the monkeys from entering their homes. Police advised those who encounter the missing monkeys to refrain from interacting with them and immediately call 911. The young primates – all female and between 6 to 7 pounds – have never been used for testing and are too young to carry disease, police said.

“They are described as being very skittish and will congregate in groups,” Yemassee Town Administrator Matthew Garnes told CNN. The monkeys are nonviolent, but may be growing restless due to hunger, he said.

Traps to catch the animals on the run have been set and the police department was using thermal imaging cameras to find them. Police were working closely with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office and state agricultural and wildlife officials.

Westergaard told CNN the primates escaped after a caretaker failed to secure doors, saying it was “100% human error.”

“We have placed humane traps and have seen monkeys in the woods next to our property. We have people keeping lookout in the area where they have been spotted,” Westergaard said.

The Alpha Genesis test facility specializes in nonhuman primate research for the biomedical research community. It is one of the largest primate facilities in the country designed specifically for monkeys, with over 100 acres of land for research and breeding purposes, according to its website.

Police have instructed people to refrain from approaching the primates, who are “highly sensitive and easily startled.”

“We recommend that the public…avoid the area to prevent frightening them further,” the Yemassee Police Department said.

This is not South Carolina’s first rodeo with monkeys on the loose. The Post and Courier in Beaufort County reported that 19 monkeys escaped from the same facility in 2016, but they were returned after six hours.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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CNN’s Jillian Sykes contributed to this report.