Monkey Mayhem: 40 Lab Primates On The Loose

This was on the news wire this morning:

South Carolina police are trying to round up 40 monkeys that escaped from a research facility.  Police say the monkeys got loose last night from the Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center, which uses primates to conduct clinical trials for various treatments.  The sheriff is urging local residents to keep doors and windows shut to keep the primates from entering their homes.  It's not known if the monkeys were exposed to any diseases.

Now you may be asking yourself, "Has anything like this ever happened in Utah?"

Glad you asked.

Actually, in 2011 four spider monkeys escaped through a hole in their enclosure from the Hogle Zoo. And while their time on the lam was short, reports say they had a jolly good time.

In May of 2006, a gray wolf jumped over the barbed wire fence around its enclosure at the zoo and was on the run for more than an hour while the zoo was evacuated.

The wolf was eventually recaptured without any serious incidents, but officials ordered residents near the zoo to shelter in place.

And in 2016, Zeya the snow leopard escaped from the zoo and terrorized families and media members for an hour or so (actually they found the big cat asleep on a log just outside its enclosure and the only "terror" was that guests on this Tuesday morning were forced to wait out the search in the zoo's gift shop, which has notoriously high prices).

These incidents certainly were chaotic, but I suppose they're pretty mild compared to the 40 lab monkeys on the loose in South Carolina.

By the way, as of Thursday afternoon, they have not recaptured any of the monkeys and authorities are using  thermal-imaging cameras in the search.

One police authority told the media, “If you see any of them, please DO NOT approach or attempt to interact with them; instead, contact 911 immediately!”

And hide your bananas.

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