In 1995’s Jumanji, Kirsten Dunst and Bradley Pierce discover a peculiar board game in the attic of their new home. Words appear as they roll the dice: “This will not be an easy mission. Monkeys slow the expedition.”
That scene came to life over in South Carolina on Wednesday afternoon, when the Yemassee Police Department reported that 43 rhesus macaque monkeys escaped from the Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center.
Authorities said the monkeys are very young females weighing “approximately 6-7 lbs” who have not been tested on due to their age and size. A spokesperson for the research center confirmed they do not carry any disease.
Rhesus macaque monkeys, a species of Old World Monkey, are highly intelligent. While their diet usually consists of fruits, seeds, herbs, and insects, that doesn’t mean they won’t rummage through residents’ trash and gardens. Authorities warned homes of Beaufort County to lock their doors and windows, while traps and thermal imaging cameras are being used to track them.
“Alpha Genesis currently have eyes on the primates and are working to entice them with food,” the statement reads. “The pubic is advised to avoid the area as these animals are described as skittish, and any additional noise or movement could hinder their safe capture.”
Alpha Genesis’ CEO Greg Westergaard told CBS News that an employee inadvertently didn’t secure the door to the monkey’s enclosure. “It’s really like follow-the-leader,” Westergaard said. “You see one go and the others go. It was a group of 50, and 7 stayed behind and 43 bolted out the door.”
In a statement to Rolling Stone, Kathleen Conlee, who previously worked at the same Beaufort County facility when it was owned by a different company before purchase by Alpha Genesis, said that recent escape “highlights the urgent need to end the use of primates in research.”
Conlee, who is now the VP of animal research issues for the Humane Society, said that “these intelligent, social animals deserve protection, not exploitation” and called on Congress to “reject further investments in primate research infrastructure and instead focus on funding ethical, non-animal alternatives that are more effective, humane and cost taxpayers less money.”
According to her colleague, Kirsten Peek at the Humane Society, Conlee “was deeply disturbed by the practices she saw” at the Beaufort County facility, but stayed in her position out of a “duty to try to protect the animals.” Peek said that Conlee’s “drive to do more led her to a career in advocacy.”
When the news of the primate escape hit the internet, it was impossible not to think of that scene in Jumanji, particularly when they destroy the kitchen and steal David Alan Grier’s police car. But this has the potential to be an easier clean-up than in the film: There’s no ferocious lions, evil wasps, ravenous alligators, and other nuisances we need to worry about — only the convicted felon our country recently voted back into office.
This article was updated on Nov. 7 at 8:35 p.m. ET to include statements from Kathleen Conlee and Kirsten Peek of the Humane Society.