Monkeys Have Been Roaming St. Louis for Days

Monkeys have been running loose in St. Louis for days amid an effort to track them down and figure out where they came from. The city's Animal Care and Control Division said Friday that multiple monkeys had been spotted near O'Fallon Park, after initial reports Thursday indicated four monkeys were seen along Red Bud Avenue, per KSDK. The city bans exotic animals, and officials say this is the first incident of loose monkeys they've dealt with. "At this time, we do not know where these animals came from," Justen Hauser of the city health department said, per the BBC. The animals remained on the lam as of Sunday evening.

The Saint Louis Zoo helped identify the primates as vervet monkeys, which are native to sub-Saharan Africa and recognizable by gray-green fur, black faces, and white eyebrows. Health officials say the animals are intelligent but unpredictable and are urging residents not to approach or attempt to capture them. Once captured, the monkeys will then be "transported to a facility certified to care for exotic animals," Hauser said. Some residents worried for both pets and people, with one saying, "I look at those doggone fingers on them monkeys and they got sharp teeth. They look like orangutans." Anyone who spots the animals is asked to call the city's Animal Care and Control line at 314-657-1500.