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    • 43 monkeys remain at large from the laboratory in South Carolina. CEO says he hopes they have an adventure
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    43 monkeys remain at large from the laboratory in South Carolina. CEO says he hopes they have an adventure

    Harry Posted on

    Jeffrey Collins, Dylan Lovan and Ben Finley
    | Associated Press

    Columbia, South Carolina Forty-three monkeys bred for medical research that escaped from a South Carolina compound were spotted in the woods near the facility and workers used food to recapture them, officials said Friday.

    Rhesus macaques took a break Wednesday after an employee at the Alpha Genesis facility in Yemassee failed to lock the door fully while feeding and checking on them, officials said.

    “They are very social monkeys and travel in groups, so when the first couple walks out the door, the others follow quickly,” said Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard. CBS News.

    Westergaard said his main goal was to ensure the monkeys’ safe return without any further problems. “I think they’re having an adventure,” he said.

    On Friday, the monkeys explored the outer fence of the Alpha Genesis campus and were chirping at the monkeys inside, police said in a statement.

    “The primates displayed calm and playful behavior, which is a positive indicator,” police said in the statement, adding that company employees closely monitored the monkeys while keeping their distance as they worked to recapture them safely.

    Monkeys are about the size of a cat. They are all females weighing about 7 pounds (3 kilograms).

    Alpha Genesis, federal health officials and police have said the monkeys pose no risk to public health. The facility raises monkeys to sell to medical and other researchers.

    “They have not contracted any disease. “They are harmless and a little skittish,” Yemassee Police Chief Gregory Alexander said Thursday.

    Authorities still advise people living near the community, about a mile from downtown Yemassee, to close their windows and doors and call 911 if they see the monkeys. Getting close to them can make them more skittish and harder to catch, authorities said.

    Eve Cooper, a biology professor at the University of Colorado Boulder who studies rhesus macaques, said the animals had the potential to be dangerous and urged people to keep their distance.

    Rhesus macaque monkeys can be aggressive. Some carry the herpes B virus, which can be fatal to humans, Cooper said.

    However, Alpha Genesis states on its website that it specializes in pathogen-free primates. Cooper noted that there are pathogen-free rhesus macaque populations that have been quarantined and tested.

    “I would give them a wide berth,” Cooper said. “They are unpredictable animals. “They can also act quite aggressively when they are scared.”

    Alpha Creation It provides primates for research around the world from its campus about 50 miles northeast of Savannah, Georgia, according to its website.

    It is known as the “monkey farm” among the locals. In Yemassee, and with a population of about 1,100 people, just off Interstate 95, about 2 miles away, there’s more fun than panic. Auldbrass PlantationA Frank Lloyd Wright house designed in the 1930s.

    William McCoy, owner of the Lowcountry Horology watch repair shop, said there have been escapes before, but the monkeys did not cause any problems.

    “They usually come home because that’s where the food is,” he said.

    McCoy has lived in Yemassee for nearly two years, and while he plans to stay away from the monkeys, he has his own light-hearted plan to get them back.

    “I’m stocking up on bananas, maybe they’ll show up,” McCoy said.

    The Alpha Genesis compound is regularly inspected by federal authorities.

    In 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture fined Alpha Genesis $12,600 after officials said 26 primates escaped from the Yemassee facility in 2014 and 19 more escaped in 2016.

    The company was fined for individual monkey escapes as well as for the killing of a monkey by others when placed in the wrong social group, according to a USDA report.

    The group Stop Animal Exploitation sent a letter to the USDA on Thursday, asking the agency to immediately send an inspector to the Alpha Genesis facility, conduct a thorough investigation and treat the individuals as repeat violators. The group was involved in a fine imposed on the company in 2018.

    “The apparent carelessness that allowed these 40 monkeys to escape not only endangered the safety of the animals, but also put South Carolina residents at risk,” wrote Michael Budkie, the group’s executive director.

    USDA, which has inspected the compound 10 times since 2020, did not immediately respond to the letter.

    The most recent federal inspection of the facility in May showed there were about 6,700 primates at the facility and no problems.

    In a 2022 investigation, federal veterinarians reported that two animals died after their fingers became trapped in structures and exposure to harsh weather conditions. They also found that the cages were not secure enough. Investigators said criminal charges, civil penalties or other sanctions could follow if the problems are not resolved.

    Since then, the Alpha Genesis has gone through six reviews, with minor issues reported only once.

    In January 2023, the USDA said the compound caused temperatures in some monkey cages to be 45 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit (7.2 to 29.5 degrees Celsius) outside the required range. During the inspection, moldy food was found in one of the garbage bins, sharp edges and mud that could cut an animal on the door, food waste, used medical supplies, mechanical equipment and general construction debris on the floor.

    Supporters of medical research involving nonhuman primates have said they are critical to life-saving medical advances, such as developing a vaccine against Covid-19, because of their similarities with humans. Ensuring a domestic supply of animals is critical for U.S. researchers to prevent famine.

    People have used rhesus macaques for scientific research since the late 1800s. Scientists believe rhesus macaques and humans diverged from a common ancestor about 25 million years ago and share about 93% of the same DNA.

    These monkeys were launched into space on V2 rockets used in AIDS research, their genomes were mapped, and they were made into the stars of their own reality television shows. They were in such high demand in the early 2000s that a shortage led to scientists paying up to $10,000 per animal.

    Outside of rats and mice, rhesus macaques are some of the most studied animals on the planet, said University of Chicago behavioral scientist Dario Maestripieri, who wrote the 2007 book “Macachiavellian Intelligence: How Rhesus Macaques and Humans Have Conquered the World.” ”

    Animals are family-oriented and will side with relatives when a fight breaks out. And they are adept at forming political alliances in the face of threats from other apes. But these can be painful to watch. Maestripieri said monkeys with lower status in the hierarchy lived under constant fear and intimidation.

    “In some ways they represent some of the worst aspects of human nature,” Maestripieri said.

    Lovan reported from Louisville, Kentucky, and Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia.

    Harry
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