- St.
Louis residents spot monkeys roaming streets. - Wild
primates wander Missouri neighborhoods this week. - Bizarre
sighting shocks locals in urban area.
On Friday, locals in north St. Louis reported seeing a few
monkeys.
“The Department of Health has confirmed that multiple
monkeys are on the loose around the vicinity of O’Fallon Park in North City.
Original reports suggested there were four animals, but we cannot confirm an
actual number at this time, only that there is more than one,”
Justen Hauser, environmental health bureau chief with the St
Louis department of health, said in a statement.
“We are working to get an idea of where they may be
hiding or seeking food. We are engaging with partner agencies that are properly
trained and equipped to safely capture these animals. Once captured, the
monkeys will be transported to a facility certified to care for exotic
animals.”
“This is the first time we’ve had a situation
dealing with monkeys at large in the city of St. Louis,”
Hauser said to a local news station.
The origin of the monkeys is still unknown, but the St.
Louis zoo has determined that they are vervet monkeys.
According to the group, vervets are frequently considered
pests in human-populated regions because they invade fields and steal food,
which results in a large annual massacre of the creatures.
According to a report in Earth.org that chronicled the story
of a vervet named Gizmo who was sold after being “torn from his mother,
likely at a few weeks old,” they are also sold for profit in the US. Gizmo
was raised as a pet in the US and was progressively kept in a cage as he grew
more aggressive.
Later on, he would attack an adult after slipping out of the
enclosure. After realizing that the animal shouldn’t be confined in a cage,
Gizmo’s owner, who wasn’t named in the narrative, contacted the Born Free USA
Primate Sanctuary. After that, the monkey was moved to a south Texas
sanctuary.
“They are very intelligent and social, but may be
unpredictable or aggressive under stress. If you spot them, please call
314-657-1500 so that we can try to triangulate their location,”
he said.
What species are vervet monkeys and are they dangerous to
people?
Vervet monkeys( Chlorocebus pygerythrus) belong to the Old
World monkey family Cercopithecidae, native to eastern and southern Africa from
South Africa to Ethiopia. Medium- sized primates( 4- 8 kg, 40- 60 cm body
length), they feature distinctive turquoise scrotums in males, black faces
framed by white fur, and slate-black fleeces, inhabiting downs, woods, and
civic circumferences.
Largely social, they live in maternal colors of 10- 70,
using over 30 distinct alarm calls for bloodsuckers like leopards, eagles,
snakes, and humans.
Opportunistic pets, vervets raid crops and scavenge near
agreements, earning pest status despite” Least Concern” IUCN bracket.
Their intelligence aids mortal- conterminous survival but energies conflict.
