When 43 monkeys escaped from a South Carolina research facility on Nov. 6, countless human cousins around the country cheered them on. No one likes to think about the 70,000 monkeys per year that wind up in U.
S. research laboratories for drug and other experiments. Thus, when the 43 young female rhesus macaque primates managed to escape their captors this month, animal lovers enjoyed a shared moment of rare grace.
All we needed was Morgan Freeman's "God" voice reporting the primates' progress among the Lowcountry's expansive treetops. Alas, such hopes were quickly dashed. All but four of the monkeys have been captured and returned to their unnatural habitat at Alpha Genesis Inc.
's (AGI) research and reproduction facility in Yemassee, S.C. .
Apparently, someone who worked at the farm failed to properly secure an enclosure, allowing the female monkeys to launch an escapade that for two weeks largely entertained the 1,000 or so human primates who call Yemassee home. AGI, by comparison, houses about 10,000 primates on about 100 acres. What could go wrong? People are also reading.
.. During their two-week caper, the monkeys were seen around town, though most stayed relatively close to their known food source.
Residents were warned to keep windows and doors closed and not to feed or interact with the cuddly looking scamps. These particular monkeys are curious, playful and pose no harm to people, according to AGI. The company also said the monkeys were too young to have communicable .