Police in rural South Carolina are telling people to lock their doors and windows after at least 43 monkeys escaped from a bio-research center.
On Wednesday night, the rhesus macaques escaped from the Alpha Genesis facility in Yemassee, located just off I-95 in the state’s south.
According to its website, the firm “provides primary research and development support to the scientific community.”
No fleeing primates had been apprehended by Thursday morning.
“We want to assure the community that there is no health risk associated with these animals,” the Yemassee Police Department said.
Police and Alpha Genesis workers have “strategically” set up traps in the vicinity and are tracking the monkeys using thermal imaging cameras.
Authorities have instructed local homeowners to lock their doors and windows to keep these animals out of their homes.
Instead of approaching the loose monkeys, residents should call 911 to report the incident.
The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, as well as state agricultural and wildlife officials, are collaborating with local policemen “to manage this incident effectively and humanely,” according to Yemassee police.
It’s unknown how the primates escaped.
Alpha Genesis Inc. did not immediately respond to The Post’s inquiry for comment.
According to National Geographic, rhesus macaques are native to India and China and are well-known for their intelligence.
Monkeys have a lengthy history in human medical and scientific studies, and they even predate humans in space travel.
Yemassee is a small village of approximately 1,000 people in Beaufort and Hampton counties in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, about 50 miles northwest of Savannah, Georgia.