YEMASSEE, S.C. – Authorities in South Carolina said Friday the last four of 43 escaped monkeys have been recaptured after two months living in the woods, weathering a rare snowstorm and being temped back into captivity by peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
The rhesus macaque monkeys, all females, made a break for it after police say an employee did not fully lock their enclosure at Alpha Genesis, a facility that breeds them for medical research — known to locals as “the monkey farm.”
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The recaptured monkeys appeared to be in good health, Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard said in a statement relayed by Yemassee Police in a social media post, without further details.
While they were on the loose, the area saw its first snow in seven years, accumulating up to 3 inches (8 centimeters).
The rhesus macaques made a break for it on Nov. 6, and mostly hung around near the facility. They're about the size of a cat, weighing roughly 7 pounds (3 kilograms).
It appears a worker unintentionally left the gates unlocked when the monkeys escaped, Westergaard said in November. Workers were supposed to lock and latch one gate before opening another, but all three gates and latches were left unsecure.
The monkeys posed no risk to public health, said Alpha Genesis, federal health officials and police.
Alpha Guard employees kept an eye on the monkeys and set out humane traps. Most were lured back with food and were given peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and "monkey biscuits" — a high-protein Purina Monkey Chow specially formulated for the rhesus macaques.
The facility breeds the monkeys to sell to medical facilities and other researchers. Humans have been using the monkeys for scientific research since the late 1800s. Scientists believe rhesus macaques and humans split from a common ancestor about 25 million years ago and share about 93% of the same DNA.
The compound is about a mile (1.6 kilometers) from downtown Yemassee and about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Savannah, Georgia.