Yemassee, South Carolina, has about 1,100 residents. The “Monkey Farm” on its edge holds around 6,500 animals, roughly six times the town’s population, and in November 2024 43 of them walked out of an open door.
Police posted the first alert on November 6. “Residents are strongly advised to keep doors and windows secured to prevent these animals from entering homes,” the department said. If anyone spotted a monkey, it told them to call 911 and stay back. Officers used thermal imaging cameras, and traps were set around the area. Police later said there was no health risk.
The animals belonged to Alpha Genesis, which breeds monkeys for research. Local authorities described the escapees as very young females weighing about 6 to 7 pounds, never used for testing. CEO Greg Westergaard said a caretaker had inadvertently left a door unsecured at the enclosure. He compared the break to a group following its leader: one went, then the rest.
Where they came from
The CDC said the 43 had been living as free-range monkeys on Morgan Island, known as “Monkey Island,” and were brought to the Alpha Genesis facility “for conditioning to be around people.” Alpha Genesis oversees a colony of about 3,500 rhesus monkeys on the island, a federal contract reported by The Post and Courier in 2023. Between 600 and 700 monkeys are removed each year for biomedical and vaccine research. The CDC said the risk to the public was low as long as people did not approach or touch them.
The facility’s record
CBS affiliate WTOC found that Alpha Genesis received eight USDA violations in 2022, including one for housing and one for veterinary care. In the first eight months of that year, six monkeys were placed in the wrong enclosures. One died of trauma inflicted by the animals already there. Monkeys got out on six separate occasions. The USDA’s most recent inspection, in May 2024, produced no violations and counted at least 6,701 monkeys on the property.
Nineteen animals broke out for about six hours in 2016 before they were found. “Every couple of years we’ll have one or two that get out,” Westergaard told CBS News. “We have never had this many get out.”
The long wait
The monkeys stayed near the fence line and tree line. Westergaard said the company did not want to chase them, because that would spook them. It took months. Officials told CBS News on January 24 that all 43 had been recovered, and Westergaard said: “Everyone is healthy and doing well.”
Sources
- What we know after 43 monkeys escaped a South Carolina research facility
- 43 rhesus macaques have escaped from South Carolina’s ‘Monkey Farm'
- 43 lab monkeys escaped in South Carolina. They have a legal claim to freedom.
- Alpha Genesis
