More than forty rhesus macaque monkeys are on the loose in a South Carolina town after they escaped from a bioresearch lab.
Police have issued warnings to residents of Yemasee, telling them to shut their doors and windows.
“At approximately 1pm on Wednesday, November 6, 2024, the Yemassee Police Department received an alert from Alpha Genesis regarding the escape of numerous Rhesus Macaque primates from their enclosures at the Yemassee facility located at 95 Castle Hall Rd, Yemassee SC. The number has since been confirmed to be 43,” the Yemassee Police Department announced.
The primates have been described as “very young females weighing approximately 6-7lbs.” The monkeys have “never been used for testing due to their young age and size” and are “too young to carry disease.”
The 43 monkeys escaped from an Alpha Genesis facility. The company provides “cost-effective research and development support to the scientific community,” its website says.
Police are with the company to set up traps around the area. Thermal imaging cameras are also being utilized to track the primates.
Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard told WSAV that a worker left a door open while cleaning the enclosure.
This is not the first time the monkeys have escaped.
According to The Post and Courier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture fined Alpha Genesis $12,600 for six separate incidents between 2014 and 2016.
Nineteen monkeys fled from the facility in 2016.
The USASpending website details numerous contracts Alpha Genesis has had with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the purpose of breeding monkey colonies.
