Media Coverage About SAEN Stop Animal Exploitation Now

Dozens of monkeys run amok after fleeing S.C. research center

Action Alert Contact:

Sarah J. Helming, Deputy Administrator
email: [email protected]

Deputy Administrator Helming,

You must prosecute the Alpha Genesis Corporation for the negligence which allowed over forty monkeys to escape, endangering both the monkeys themselves and local residents. This facility must be fully penalized -- a fine of $12,722 per infraction/per animal.

 

Dozens of monkeys run amok after fleeing S.C. research center

From WRDW.com, November 7, 2024

Forty-three monkeys escaped from a compound used for medical research in South Carolina but the nearby police chief said there is “almost no danger” to the public.

“They are not infected with any disease whatsoever. They are harmless and a little skittish,” Yemassee Police Chief Gregory Alexander said Thursday morning.

The Rhesus macaque primates escaped from the Alpha Genesis facility Wednesday when a new employee didn’t fully shut an enclosure, Alexander said.

“She went in to feed and clean but she did not secure two separate doors. So this is a double door system. So this is purely a human failure to secure both doors,” said Greg Westergaard, president of Alpha Genesis. “The monkeys saw the opportunity and once one goes, the others went with them.

Alpha Genesis employees “currently have eyes on the primates and are working to entice them with food,” police said in a statement issued around noon Thursday.

The monkeys have been located in a forest adjacent to Alpha Genesis. Heavy rains in the area have likely affected the situation, as Westergaard says the monkeys are hunkering down in the forest.

“I could hear them last night. I was listening to them talk back and forth to some of the other monkeys that are in some outdoor areas here. So they coo, that’s what it’s called, when they’re happy. So they’re going ‘coo,’” Westergaard said.

“I love the monkeys, and my basic, my primary concern is just their safe return,” he said.

Rounding up these escapees is taking more work than usual. Alpha Genesis is taking the lead, setting up traps and using thermal imaging cameras to recapture the monkeys on the run, the chief said.

“There is almost no danger to the public,” Alexander said.

People living nearby need to shut their windows and doors so the monkeys can’t find a place to hide inside and if they see the primates, call 911 so company officials and police can capture them.

Alpha Genesis provides primates for research worldwide at its compound.

The company also oversees a colony of more than 3,000 monkeys on Morgan Island, known as Monkey Island, off the South Carolina coast.

In 2018, federal officials fined Alpha Genesis $12,600 after dozens of primates escaped as well as for an incident that left a few others without water and other problems with how the monkeys were housed.

Officials said 26 primates escaped from the Yemassee facility in 2014 and an additional 19 got out in 2016.

The group Stop Animal Exploitation Now sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture asking the agency to immediately send an inspector to the Alpha Genesis facility, conduct a thorough investigation and treat them as a repeated violator. The group was involved in the 2018 fine against the company.

“The clear carelessness which allowed these 40 monkeys to escape endangered not only the safety of the animals, but also put the residents of South Carolina at risk,” Michael Budkie, the executive director of the group, wrote in the Thursday morning letter.

See also: Return to Media Coverage