Great monkey escape: 25 of 43 rhesus macaques captured

YEMASSEE, S.C. — Of the 43 monkeys that escaped a research facility in South Carolina, more than half have been captured and returned home.

Police in Yemassee, South Carolina, said that the animals had gotten out of Alpha Genesis last week after an employee didn’t close the doors in the area where the animals were kept after feeding them, USA Today reported.

“It’s really like follow-the-leader. You see one go and the others go,” Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard told CBS News. “It was a group of 50 and 7 stayed behind and 43 bolted out the door.”

They are all near the company’s facility, CBS News reported.

The department said on Facebook, Sunday evening, “A sizable group remains active along the fence line and at this time have bedded down in the trees for the night.” Alpha Genesis said it would continue trying to recover the monkeys until all are returned.

The monkeys were all young female rhesus macaques that weighed no more than 7 pounds but had not been used for testing because of their age.

Each of the recaptured primates was checked out by veterinarians and found to be “in good health,” police said.

Alpha Genesis has about 7,000 primates, The New York Times reported.

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