In the United States, police are actively searching for 43 macaques who escaped from a laboratory

The monkeys escaped from their enclosure at a facility in Yemassee, South Carolina, run by Alpha Genesis.

The scenario is worthy of a Hollywood science fiction film. Around forty macaques have been actively sought since Thursday, November 7, after making off with a research laboratory in South Carolina, in the southeast of the United States, police announced. The monkeys, described as “fearful”fled from their enclosure in a facility in Yemassee run by Alpha Genesis, a company specializing in biomedical research on primates.

The macaques escaped when an employee forgot to lock the door to their enclosure, company boss Greg Westergaard told CBS News. Research teams were deployed to find these rhesus macaques, in particular by “attractive with food”reported the Yemassee police. She urges residents to keep their doors and windows “securely closed” and to call him if they see one of the monkeys.

In images posted on the social network X by the ABC News channel, we see the animals running in a wooded area near the installation.

Forty-three primates remained on the loose Friday in a South Carolina town two days after escaping from a research laboratory, authorities said.

Footage from Wednesday shows the animals running through a wooded area near the facility. https://t.co/xapn5oVd9r pic.twitter.com/fvjuBHE9lG

— ABC News (@ABC)

“Please do not attempt to approach these animals under any circumstances”added the police, who specify that all of the 43 macaques are young females weighing up to 3 kg and which were not used for tests. “An Alpha Genesis spokesperson confirmed that these animals were too young to carry disease”said the police.