YEMASSEE, S.C. (WCSC/Gray News) - Four monkeys remain uncaptured weeks after 43 primates escaped from a research facility in South Carolina.
The rhesus macaque monkeys escaped from Alpha Genesis near Yemassee on Nov. 7.
On Sunday, the company’s CEO, Greg Westergaard, said his team still sees the remaining four monkeys together in a tree almost daily.
“The four monkeys look good, and engage in species-typical behaviors such as grooming and tree-climbing,” he said in a statement. “I could have them darted but have not given that directive because it could pose a danger to the monkeys and since they are doing well, we are just waiting for them to go in the traps.”
Westergaard said the 39 primates that were recaptured are in good health.
He confirmed in mid-November that there was no structural failure in the containment area where the monkeys are kept. He said there are two gates you must pass through to get inside the main enclosure where the monkeys live.
The company is assuming the failure to secure the gates “was the result of human error rather than malice,” Westergaard said, but he added that they have no way of knowing that for certain.
The employee who was responsible for leaving the gates open left the facility after the monkeys escaped, but Westergaard said he was not aware of any argument or disagreement involving the employee that would have been a motive for leaving the gates open on purpose.
Westergaard said they continue to provide fruit and other treats to the four escaped monkeys, which he said “probably slows down the trapping process” but added that it seems to him to be “the right thing to do.”
”Rhesus monkeys are native to the Himalayan Mountains in Northern India, so the relatively mild Lowcountry winters are not an issue for them,” he said.
This is the first update on the ongoing efforts to recapture the last of the escaped primates since news broke weeks ago that the U.S. Department of Agriculture was reviewing a complaint against the research facility.
The animal rights activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said it submitted whistleblower complaints alleging misconduct.
“I can confirm that we recently received a complaint with some detailed allegations and that we are reviewing them to determine whether there are Animal Welfare Act noncompliance we need to follow up on,” USDA spokesman R. Andre Bell said in a statement.
Alpha Genesis did not respond to requests for comment on the complaint, and the USDA has not provided updates on where that review stands.
Over the last 10 years, the facility has received over $130 million from the Department of Health and Human Services with the majority of that funding coming from taxpayer dollars.
