Since this piece was written two more of the monkeys have been recaptured.
From The Independent, November 15:
It’s a jungle out there! Multiple emus on the loose in South Carolina – while 8 escaped lab monkeys also still large
There was animal mayhem in South Carolina as two emus went on the loose – while eight escaped monkeys were already at large.
Reports of two large emus running riot in the city of Loris, in Horry County, SC, followed an incident last week when 43 monkeys escaped an Alpha Genesis facility in Beaufort County, SC, the Yemassee Police Department said.
The birds’ owner, Sam Morace, took to social media to plead with locals for their patience, saying: “For everyone that keeps seeing an emu, yes it is mine. There are 2 of them out.”
Morace said his two flightless birds broke loose three months ago and local law enforcement officials were reportedly trying to tranquilize them in order to return them home.
“They are feral and not trained like the ones we have at the house. Thank you for all the concerns and questions. But if the emus were that easy to catch they would be home already”, he shared on Facebook....
....MUCH MORE
I've seen some legal eagles practitioners positing that the monkeys may have a legal claim to that freedom once it is achieved:
Related:...."When a domesticated animal wanders off your property, there’s not a lot of debate that you still own the animal," Marceau said. "When it’s an animal that was once wild and is going back into an area where they could possibly integrate into another wild population, that is a stronger case."
There is no known wild population of rhesus monkeys in South Carolina, but, Marceau noted, there is a monkey island.....
Meanwhile In South Carolina: "43 monkeys escape from a South Carolina medical lab. Police say there is no serious danger"
The authorities did however ask residents to lock their doors and windows....
Probably not related:
"How scientists taught monkeys the concept of money. Not long after, the first prostitute monkey appeared"
