NEWS - MYSTERY MONKEY FINDS HOME IN ST. PETE

Mystery monkey finds home in St. Pete

 

  Feb 11, 2012

 

St. Petersburg, Florida - Tampa Bay's mystery monkey seems to have found a home behind the house of a St. Petersburg couple. The homeowners, who do not want to be identified, feed the monkey daily and say he follows them around their house peeking in the windows from the outside.
In an email to 10 News the family says they have named the monkey Mr. Monk.
"It has been a constant progression of trust. At first he was very wary of us, and shy, and nervous. But time has passed and he has realized that we mean no harm and, in fact, welcome him to our little piece of paradise," the couple wrote.
The monkey has been roaming the Bay area for 3-years now, spotted everywhere from Hudson and Clearwater to Temple Terrace and South St. Petersburg.
The monkey's story has garnered national attention including talk on Comedy Central's Colbert Report. A song has been written about the monkey, even a fictitious Facebook page was created for the rhesus macaque.
Florida Fish and Wildlife has tried to capture the monkey in hopes that they can place him in a wildlife facility with other macaques. Officials have feared the monkey might eventually attack someone since he is outside of his normal environment.
It is believed the monkey was originally living in the Silver Spring area before he was likely chased out of his colony.
The St. Petersburg homeowners say they can get within a foot of Mr. Monk and that he will follow them on afternoon walks along their driveway.
The couple say they feed him bananas and Oreo cookies. "He eats (the Oreos) just like you do ... he takes it apart and licks the creamy center, then eats the cookie," the family wrote.
Just as they have for three years, WFC officials hope the family will stop feeding the monkey and instead call them to have Mr. Monk captured. Gary Morse, FWC spokesperson says again they are afraid the monkey will eventually attack someone.
"While we express human kindness in certain terms that humans understand, animals don't usually understand that, they simply don't have that capacity," Morse said.
Vernon Yates, founder of Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation added if the monkey is not safely captured he believes the story of Mr. Monk will have a very sad ending.
"If the monkey is starting to look at people for food, as sad as it may seem it's almost to a point, just kill him now and avoid the rush because you are setting it up for a major, major problem," Yates said.

NEWS - YEARS CATCH UP WITH AILING MONKEY

Years catch up with ailing monkey

PALOMA MIGONE AND LAURA WESTBROOK

26/08/2011

Charlie the rhesus monkey has already lived for nearly twice his species' normal lifespan, but now suspected heart disease has laid him low and his vet predicts he has only six months left to live.
The 42-year-old monkey, from Upper Hutt's animal shelter Helping You Help Animals (HUHA), was taken to a Massey University vet in Palmerston North yesterday after he was found pressing his head against his bedding.
HUHA founder Carolyn Press-McKenzie said she was going through "an emotional roller-coaster" as the monkey had to go under anaesthetic, which was "highly risky" at his age.
He had had a CT scan, an X-ray and a range of blood tests, and was "doing well" following the visit.
Veterinarian Baukje Lenting said the X-ray showed Charlie's heart was enlarged, which could mean he had heart disease. She hoped to do an ultrasound next week to confirm if he had the illness, and his blood tests results were also due next week.
Dr Lenting said Charlie also had an infection of the vertebrae in his spine, which would be treated with antibiotics, and possibly arthritis. The problems were due to his advanced years, as his organs were not functioning as they once would, she said.
Dr Lenting was confident Charlie would be stabilised and she would consider it a success if he lived for another six months.
Rhesus monkeys, common from Afghanistan to northern India and southern China, typically have a lifespan of about 25 years.
Ms Press-McKenzie said if Charlie was in too much pain he might have to be put down.
"I love having him in my life, but when his time has come we'll just be so proud to have known him, and so proud to have given him the freedom," she said.
Charlie came to HUHA about five years ago when the Whirling Brothers Circus closed down.
- Stuff

NEWS - SEARCH ENDS IN GWINNETT FOR MISSING RESEARCH MONKEY

Search ends in Gwinnett for missing research monkey

By David Ibata

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The search in Gwinnett County for a missing research monkey is over.

Emory University’s Yerkes National Primate Research Center announced it has ended efforts to locate the animal. Known only as “EP13,” the 2-year-old rhesus macaque was discovered missing on June 15.
“Despite extensive efforts by Yerkes staff, we have not been able to locate this research animal,” Dr. Stuart Zola, director of Yerkes, said in a prepared statement issued last week.
“Efforts included searching the Yerkes property numerous times, conducting multiple census counts of the research animals and working with Gwinnett County Animal Control to follow up on 26 reported ‘sightings’ in the metro Atlanta area,” Zola said.
Zola said he has directed Yerkes staff to continue taking steps to prevent any such future occurrences, including using microchip technology to better track the animals and increasing security and video surveillance at the center.
The center will also pursue any recommendations regulatory authorities may make, he said. Earlier this summer, Yerkes officials met with representatives of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to discuss steps they had taken in the search.
With the search ended, “we are focusing on our research operations at the center and doing things to ensure this would not happen again,” Lisa Newbern, a Yerkes spokeswoman, said in a telephone interview Monday.
If someone should see the monkey, she said, “people are still welcome to give us a call at 404 727-7732, or Gwinnett County Animal Control, 770 339-3200.”
It was hoped that Ep13 could be in or around the 117-acre Primate Research Center, but repeated searches proved fruitless.
Searchers had speculated the monkey fled into the nearby woods, possibly finding shelter in the surrounding Gwinnett suburbs or even going farther, venturing far outside of metro Atlanta. Yerkes has taken calls from people in other counties claiming to have seen her.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on July 5 cited a Georgia Department of Natural Resources report that Yerkes waited five days before notifying authorities of the missing monkey.
The DNR report showed that after identifying that the monkey was missing on June 15, Yerkes staff started an immediate search of its grounds and on June 17 filed an incident report to the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, the oversight body for university animal testing.
Yerkes contacted the U.S. Department of Agriculture three days later, on June 20, and then the DNR on June 22. The last time Yerkes had conducted a full head count of the monkeys was May 26, when the group was being transported within the facility.
The report also said that five days into the search, a Yerkes veterinarian believed the primate might be deceased. The veterinarian speculated the missing monkey had fallen into a crevice and died, or that a hawk had captured it.
Meanwhile, about 20 area residents filed a complaint with Lawrenceville and Gwinnett authorities against the primate research center, saying it did not belong in a residential area because of the threat escaped animals could pose to neighbors.
Operated by Emory University, Yerkes is one of eight federally funded national primate research centers. It keeps a total of about 3,400 primates at a 25-acre campus in Atlanta and the 117-acre field station in Lawrenceville. The field station, which opened in 1966, is home to 1,899 rhesus macaques and 2,220 animals overall.
For more information about the Yerkes National Primate Research Center: http://www.yerkes.emory.edu/