Two more monkeys that escaped last week from a South Carolina research facility were recaptured Tuesday, according to the facility’s CEO, bringing the total number of primates caught and returned to 32 since the incident. Eleven monkeys are still on the loose.
Greg Westergaard, the chief executive officer of the facility Alpha Genesis, in Yemassee, South Carolina, told CBS News that both of the newly-trapped monkeys were healthy and enjoying a meal of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Fruit Loops were also “planned for dessert,” Westergaard said.
He added none of the monkeys, rhesus macaque primates used for biomedical study, showed signs of “ill effects from their adventure” and all continued “to do well.”
But Westergaard’s company has come under scrutiny from a federal lawmaker who criticized the lab for negligence and alleged the laboratory has performed harmful experiments on monkeys for years. Rep. Nancy Mace, whose South Carolina jurisdiction includes Yemassee, penned a letter to animal welfare officials at the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, raising concerns about operations at the research facility in light of the monkeys’ escape.