South Carolina Residents Told to Secure Their Homes After 43 Monkeys Escape Lab

Look, I don’t want to alarm anyone, but this is how a zombie movie scenario starts. Police in Yemassee, South Carolina, are trying to track down over 40 rhesus monkeys that recently escaped from a nearby lab. While members of the public have been told to keep their homes secured and to stay away from the monkeys if they see them, the animals apparently don’t pose any health risk.

The Yemassee Police Department reported the great primate escape in a Facebook post Wednesday afternoon. The monkeys somehow managed to slip out of the Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center, which claims to provide the “highest quality nonhuman primate products and bio-research services.” In its latest update this morning, the department said that 43 rhesus macaques in total have fled the coop, none of whom have been captured yet by the police or lab staff.

While the lab is known to use monkeys as part of its research into progressive brain disorders, the escapees don’t appear to be particularly dangerous. The primates are all reportedly females weighing around six pounds who are too young to have been used in any research yet and to be carrying any diseases in general. Yemassee police said Thursday that there is “no health risk associated with these animals.” At the same time, no one should be trying to get nice and cozy with the monkeys if they happen to spot them.

“Residents are strongly advised to keep doors and windows secured to prevent these animals from entering homes,” the department said Thursday. “If you spot any of the escaped animals, please contact 911 immediately and refrain from approaching them.”

This isn’t the first time that primates have left the confines of the Alpha Genesis Primate Center. The Post and Courier newspaper in Beaufort County (where the town is partially located) reported Wednesday that the facility has experienced several escapes since 2014, and that it has accrued several violations handed down by the U.S. Department of Agriculture connected to these escapes and other incidents between 2014 and 2016.

Yemassee police are working with the nearby sheriff’s office, state agricultural and wildlife officials, and Alpha Genesis lab staff to bring the monkeys back home. They’re reportedly using traps to capture the monkey safely, along with thermal imaging to help find them. No word yet on whether they will be recruiting the assistance of a mustachioed plumber in a red shirt and blue overalls or his cowardly brother.