Authorities in South Carolina are urging residents to secure their homes after 40 monkeys escaped from the Alpha Genesis research facility late last night.
According to a statement from the Yemassee Police Department, a wide network of traps have now been set and wide-net thermal imaging devices have been deployed in an attempt to locate the primates.
“Residents are strongly advised to keep doors and windows secured to prevent these animals from entering homes. If you spot any of the escaped animals, please contact 911 immediately and refrain from approaching them”, the department notes.
The Alpha Genesis facility, which breeds and works with cynomolgous, rhesus, and capuchin monkeys, specializes in providing “nonhuman primate products and bio-research services” globally (monkey labor). The escaped primates remain unidentified in terms of their specific breed. Multiple officers are collaborating with facility personnel to ensure their safe recapture.
Alpha Genesis has experienced escapes before. In 2015, 19 monkeys escaped but were recaptured within six hours. The company also oversees a colony of 3,500 rhesus monkeys on South Carolina’s Morgan Island, also known as “Monkey Island.”
