YEMASSEE, S.C. – 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, authorities said Friday.

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

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

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.

Rhesus macaque primates escaped Alpha Creation Alexander said the incident occurred Wednesday when a new employee at the facility did not completely seal the enclosure.

“He went inside to feed and clean, but did not lock two separate doors. So this is a double door system. So this is a completely human failure to secure both gates,” Westergaard said. “The monkeys saw this opportunity, and when one went, the others went with them.”

Police said the monkeys were females weighing about 7 kilograms and were so young and small that they were not used for testing.

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.

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 (80 kilometers) 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.

“Normally they 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,” McCoy said. “Maybe they’ll show up.”

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