All 43 Escaped Monkeys Captured in South Carolina

The 43 research monkeys that escaped from a South Carolina laboratory in November after a caretaker failed to secure a door have now been captured, according to local law enforcement. 

The monkeys ended up in a wooded area surrounding the Alpha Genesis facility in Beaufort County, but the Yemassee Police Department said in an update Friday that they were all safely captured, reports NBC News.

It was not clear where the monkeys went before they were found, but at the time, nearby residents were urged to keep their windows and doors locked and call 911 if they saw any of the animals. 

Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard said the recaptured monkeys, all young females weighing about 6-7 pounds, "are in good health."

Medical research for a range of clients is conducted at the Alpha Genesis facility, including studies into brain disorders. 

But Kathleen Conlee, vice president of animal research issues for the Humane Society of the United States, says she is concerned about the captured monkeys' fate.

"The reality is that means either being sent to a laboratory for a lifetime of suffering and ultimately death or being used as breeders and having their offspring taken from them for that fate," she said. 

She added that the Humane Society wants to move away from the use of monkeys for testing and breeding purposes, and on to "more effective technologies based on human biology that don’t involve the suffering of animals."

Last November was not the first time research monkeys escaped from the Alpha Genesis facility. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture cited the company four times between 2014 and 2016 for escapes, imposing fines of $12,600 for the breaches and for other violations, including monkeys that were suffering from dehydration and another where a monkey died after it was put in an inappropriate enclosure. 

In the 2014 escape, 26 monkeys ran away but were caught within two days, with one remaining missing. Later that year, two more monkeys escaped but one died from dart injuries. The 2016 escape involved a monkey getting away because of a faulty cage lock.

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