43 Monkeys Escape from a South Carolina Medical Research Laboratory
“The animals have never been used for testing due to their young age and size.”
In an event that reads like something from a science fiction thriller, at least 43 rhesus macaque monkeys escaped from the Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center in Yemassee, South Carolina.
The Rhesus macaque primates escaped from the Alpha Genesis facility Wednesday when a new employee didn’t fully shut an enclosure, Alexander said.
The monkeys are females weighing about 7 pounds (3 kilograms) and are so young and small that they haven’t been used for testing, police said.
Alpha Genesis employees “currently have eyes on the primates and are working to entice them with food,” police said in a statement issued around noon Thursday.
The company usually handles escapes on site, but the monkeys got outside the compound about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) from downtown Yemassee, Alexander said.
Alpha Genesis is a facility dedicated to breeding monkeys for medical research. The escaped monkeys are reportedly too young to have been used in testing procedures.
Police officers were searching for the furry fugitives using thermal imaging cameras, according to the sheriff’s office.
The primates, according to police, are all very young females weighing 6 to 7 pounds each. There is no public health threat, police said.
“The animals have never been used for testing due to their young age and size,” the Yemassee Police Department said in a statement Thursday. “A spokesperson from Alpha Genesis can confirm that these animals are too young to carry diseases.”
Local officials, including U.S. Representative Nancy Mace, are monitoring the situation closely and gathering information to inform constituents about the escape and ongoing search efforts.
Congresswoman Nancy Mace, who represents South Carolina in the House of Representatives, tweeted that her office is “diligently gathering all relevant information to keep our constituents informed regarding the recent escape of primates”.
Macaques are known for being aggressive and competitive. However, Yemassee Police Chief Gregory Alexander said, in a news conference on Thursday, that “there is almost no danger to the public”.
While this incident does not appear to be a cause for concern, in the wake of COVID-19, monkeypox, and highly pathogenic avian influenza (e.g., bird flu), the public is a little bit nervous about escaped research monkeys.
Many people have read The Hot Zone, which details the origins of viral hemorrhagic fevers, including Ebola, and discusses incidents involving monkeys, particularly the Reston virus found among imported monkeys in Virginia. While it does not feature an escape narrative, it highlights the dangers of zoonotic diseases that can emerge from primate populations.
Interestingly, back in 2020, when monkeys at a facility in India escaped with COVID-19 test samples, people made analogies to movies like 28 Days Later and Contagion.
The monkeys attacked a lab assistant before escaping with COVID-19 blood test samples in Dehli, India, as reported by the Times of India. One monkey was spotted sitting in a tree chewing on the sample collection kit, as locals said they feared the further spread of infection.
While people first compared the coronavirus pandemic to the 2011 movie Contagion, in which a virus originating from a bat ends up infecting people in China, before spreading globally, it may now resemble another disaster movie.
One Twitter user said: “Dudes be like ‘my life is a movie’ yeah b**** 28 Days Later.”
Hopefully, reality will not mirror fiction in this case…and this monkey business will soon be over.
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Comments
Those young, female monkeys should feel grateful that P. Diddy remains locked up.
Were any of these monkeys was named Caesar?
They heard what happened to Peanut.
I was remembering the opening scene of 28 days later, lol.
I suspect that they wanted to escape in time to vote in the general election. They were young females, so were likely solid Harris/Walz voters. Local law enforcement should be on the lookout, post-election, for shaved monkeys, crying, acting out and refusing to have sex with male monkeys.
They don’t monkey around.
They will really go ape if gorilla forces are sent to round them up.
If the monkeys have their way, they’ll turn the place into a real Banana Republic.
Like a virus escaped from a wet market?
South Carolina might be warm enough for them to survive.
I was thinking that. And after reading that they were all female, I realized that they would not become established, so there might be money sightings until they die off.
They were last sighted at a polling place. No one gave it a second thought because they looked like typical Democrat voters.
There were no bananas there so they left. But the left went bananas when they found out Trump won.
Oh, I’m sure they’ll just crossbreed with an Asian Walking Catfish, or a Killer Bee, a Gypsy Moth, or some damn thing — whatever will cause the most grief.
I did not have this on my ‘2024 super weirdo crap’ bingo card.
This is how it ends.
The story here is that people are afraid a few dozen monkeys let loose pose more of a disease outbreak threat than 10 million people crossing the border without being medically screened.
Go figure.
Many were sighted heading to Atlanta, to look for a Job as commentators at CNN.
There is no prohibition against shooting them as they are escaped non native animals and invasive species. Just get it done and move on.
Time for a safari to south Carolina?
Leslie’s AI art really classes up this joint.
I was.
Transporting gear from horse shampia to a cargo expediter in Miami.Who would forward it to jamaica
A tire on my trailer blew out So I had it towed to a local repair facility in yamasee which is where this happened
I expected dueling banjos to play any moment.As this bald headed guy with several cats running around his repair facility accepted only cash for the trailer tiresand charged a hundred eighty percent of list price. His son came straight out of deliverance.And I was relieved to get out of there
Horsham
Talk to text is a living conspiracy theory
Hell, 12 monkeys was bad enough!
This indicates that it wasn’t a research lab at all, rather a monkey ranch.
Farm. Kennel… whadya’ call it.
But, not research.
Just a supplier.
Strange, I had heard Boeing doesn’t start layoffs until Wednesday.
the Charleston Boeing facility must have jumped the line.