A group of 40 monkeys got loose from the Alpha Genesis non-human primate research facility in Yemassee, South Carolina, Wednesday, and local police are still trying to track them down.

The Yemassee Police Department and Alpha Genesis personnel have set up traps and thermal imaging cameras to find and apprehend the escaped monkeys. In a Facebook post, police also asked local residents to keep their doors and windows closed and to not approach the primates.

Police did not specify the species of the escaped monkeys. They posted a picture of crab-eating macaques on Facebook, but Alpha Genesis also conducts biomedical research using rhesus macaques and capuchin monkeys.

The company oversees about 6,500 primates at its Yemassee facility, greater than the population of the town, and is responsible for another 3,500 rhesus macaques on the uninhabited Morgan Island off the state’s coast, according to The Post & Courier newspaper.

This is not the first time monkeys have escaped the Yemassee facility. In 2016, 19 monkeys got out and were apprehended six hours later. The company was previously fined $12,600 in 2018 for a series of incidents, including a 2014 escape that saw 26 monkeys break out in Yemassee.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.