32 of the Yemassee 43 primates are back inside. Next up, a monkey run and banana beer

The search for more than three dozen runaway monkeys from a Yemassee primate breeding and research facility last week is down to a handful of holdouts. While placing a critical spotlight on the region's monkey research businesses, the escape, which captured worldwide attention, also has prompted local businesses to rally and raise money for the monkeys in unique ways including sales from a new beer and T-shirts and entry frees from a "freedom run."

Following the Nov. 6 escape, 25 monkeys had been rounded up as of Saturday. But Greg Westergaard, Alpha Genesis' CEO, told the Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet, Wednesday morning that another seven animals had been trapped as of Tuesday evening, bringing the number of monkeys now back in custody to 32 with 11 still at large.

A total of 43 monkeys originally escaped from Alpha Genesis primate breeding and research facility after an employee who was feeding and cleaning left two doors open, allowing the animals to scamper off to the nearby woods where they've been seen hanging out in the trees and running around on the ground.

"They are milling about," said Westergaard.

The monkeys have been captured in 4-foot-by-2-foot mesh cages bated with apples in which a door closes behind them when they step on a trip plate, Westergaard said, adding one of the nation's top monkey trappers is in South Carolina to assist with the roundup.

Sometimes, the monkeys poke their heads in the cages or even stand on top of them.

"You really need the cooperation of the monkeys to make them work," Westergaard said.

He thinks a "good number" of the 11 monkeys remaining in the wild are still grouped together in the woods next to the facility, which is located 25 miles northwest of Beaufort.

"It could be all of them," Westergaard said. "I can't say with certainty. And they are looking at us and we're looking at them."

The rhesus macaque monkeys are adolescent females who are not aggressive, Westergaard has said previously.

"I consider it a good thing that we've gotten that many back," Westergaard said.

Alpha Genesis manages three primate facilities in the Lowcountry. There are 4,000 monkeys at the main facility in Yemassee, where the escape occurred. A second facility on 80 acres is located just six miles north of Yemassee off Old Salkehatchie Road in Early Branch. There are 3,000 monkeys at that facility. It also manages another 3,000 monkeys for the National Institutes of Health on Morgan Island, which is located in Beaufort County off the coast 36 miles southeast of Yemassee and just north of St. Helena Island. Monkeys at the three facilities are primarily used for biomedical research. Alpha Genesis' primary customers are the federal government, pharmaceutical companies and universities. Some research does occur at the Yemassee facility.

Concerns raised News of the monkey escape has spread far and wide prompting countless memes involving Planet of the Apes characters and also serious concerns from animal welfare groups. Legal experts claim that the monkeys may even be entitled to freedom — as long as they remain free.

Dr. Lisa Jones-Engle, PETA's senior science advisor for primate experimentation, said that she would be "very surprised" if the escaped monkeys could be accepted by researchers, including the NIH, after their escape.

"Those monkeys have now been loose for several days and during that time not only have they been exposed to pathogens carried by human, domestic and wild animals, they have been observed foraging around restaurants and you can also expect that they would have been foraging near home," Jones-Engle said. "The company has also reported that the animals have freely been interacting with other monkeys still caged in the AGI facility."

Angela Grimes, the CEO of Born Free USA, an 175-acre animal sanctuary located in south Texas, said that the non-profit reached out to Alpha Genesis last Thursday asking to re-home the monkeys at their sanctuary. They have not received a response from Alpha Genesis, she said.

Her belief, like Jones-Engle, is that upon returning to the facility, the monkeys might not be viable for research purposes.

Alpha Genesis' Westergaard said the company would not be giving away the monkeys. The individuals that have returned have been given physical exams and are showing no ill health effects, he said. They will be available for research after a period of quarantine and monitoring, Westergaard said.

Nancy Mace, U.S. representative for South Carolina's 1st congressional district, sent a letter to representatives from the National Institutes for Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Tuesday expressing concern about Alpha Genesis' ability to "comply with the law" and oversight by the two agencies. She asked for an immediate response from the two agencies.

A fun run and banana beer Locally, three businesses — Dustbone Apparel, Shellring Ale Works and Living Waters Boat Tours — have teamed up to host the L ab Monkey Freedom Run at 2 p.m. Sunday at Shellring Ale Work s in Port Royal, said Shellring owner Nick Borreggine. Proceeds will go to Born Free USA.

Dustbone Apparel, a Lady's Island design company that makes T-shirts, stickers and banners, initially created a T-shirt design to commemorate the escape featuring a monkey and titled "Freedom Run." The T-shirt led to the idea of an actual run to benefit Born Free USA. Grounded Running of Beaufort was brought in to organize the run.

More than 130 runners already have signed up. They're be dressed as monkeys or lab techs, all chasing Stephen Noble, a very fast runner, who will be dressed as an escaped money. Any runner who catches him will win a sightseeing boat trip donate by Living Waters Boat Tours to Morgan Island, one of the three monkey breeding sites in the area.

Shellring Aleworks is also creating a one time special beer release called "Escape to Monkey Island." The one-time special beer release is an imperial stout — with bananas of course.