ATLANTA — Police in Yemassee, South Carolina, say they’re done monkeying around. All of the animals that escaped from a research facility have now been recovered and are safe.
The facility’s CEO, Greg Westergaard, said the monkeys appeared to be in good health and thanked the community for their help and support.
“It was a real team and community effort,” Westergaard said.
It started Nov. 6, when 43 rhesus macaques escaped from the Alpha Genesis facility. An employee didn’t close the doors in the area where the animals were kept after feeding them, company officials said.
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“My understanding is that immediately after the incident occurred, the employee’s supervisor approached her and stated that she could be terminated if it was determined that there was no structural failure which led to the escape,” Westergaard told WCSC-TV in an earlier interview. “I am told at that point the employee walked off the job and has not returned.”
Since their escape nearly three months ago, the facility and the community have been slowly recovering the monkeys.
Humans have been using the monkeys for scientific research since the late 1800s. Scientists believe rhesus macaques and humans split from a common ancestor about 25 million years ago and share about 93% of the same DNA.
The monkeys posed no risk to public health, Alpha Genesis, federal health officials and police all said. The facility breeds the monkeys to sell to medical facilities and other researchers.
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