43 escaped research monkeys are still at large in South Carolina after the caretaker failed to close two doors

Police are still searching for 43 monkeys that escaped from a research facility in South Carolina on Wednesday. The company boss announced that the outbreak occurred because an employee did not properly secure a door.

Police in Yemassee, Beaufort County, confirmed Thursday evening that the primates were in the wooded area surrounding the Alpha Genesis facility in a rural area on the edge of Yamassee.

Locals were asked to lock windows and doors and not interact with the monkeys and instead to immediately call 911 if they spotted any of the escaped primates. “These animals are very sensitive and easily frightened. We advise the public to avoid the area to avoid scaring them further,” police said.

“Alpha Genesis employees are currently trying to lure the animals back with food to ensure a safe capture,” the police statement said.

The company hopes that disposable traps containing apples will attract the animals.

Police also said Thursday that the monkeys were very young females, weighing only 6 to 7 pounds. The company told police the animals were too young to transmit disease. However, it is unclear whether this means they are incapable of contracting diseases or whether they simply did not participate in clinical trials.

Greg Westergaard, CEO of Alpha Genesis, told NBC News via email: “Yesterday’s incident involved a new enclosure and occurred because the caretaker, who was routinely cleaning and feeding, failed to secure two separate doors. It was purely human error.”

It’s not the first time monkeys have escaped from the facility – a total of 11 monkeys managed to escape in 2022, according to US Department of Agriculture documents. Westergaard said they managed to find a seam in the chain-link fabric, but did not leave the property and were quickly rounded up.

Alpha Genesis conducts medical research on a variety of medical conditions, including brain disorders, for a number of clients. The company won a federal contract to operate a colony of 3,500 monkeys on Morgan Island, also known as Monkey Island, off the coast of South Carolina.

Meanwhile, animal rights activists have raised concerns about the ethics of using primates in medical research on such a scale.

Kathleen Conlee, vice president of animal research at the Humane Society of the United States, a Washington-based nonprofit, previously worked at the Beaufort County facility when it was owned by another company and called for an end to monkey testing.

“These intelligent, social animals deserve protection, not exploitation. “Congress must reject further investments in primate research infrastructure and instead focus on funding ethical, animal-free alternatives that are more effective, more humane, and cost taxpayers less money,” she said in a statement.

Lisa Jones-Engel, a primate researcher at the animal rights advocacy group PETA, said in a statement: “The monkey testing industry has consistently failed to improve human health, and instead its actions continue to endanger the public.”