Posted on 01/25/2022 8:43:58 AM PST by BenLurkin
AN escape of lab monkeys on a Pennsylvania highway has sparked fears of a virus outbreak after a woman who came into contact with them later fell ill.
Michelle Fallon stopped to help after a truck carrying 100 cynomolgus macaques crashed on Interstate 80, spilling animal crates across the tarmac.
State troopers said four of the primates were on the loose and warned the public not to try to catch them on Friday evening.
They have all since been accounted for.
Now it has emerged a passerby who was at the scene is being treated for symptoms of an unknown illness.
Michelle, of nearby Danville, was driving behind the truck when it crashed on the way to a research facility.
She got out to help the driver with the smashed crates, initially believing they were transporting cats.
When she put her hand on a cage, one of the three monkeys inside hissed at her but she was not bitten or scratched.
She said she also stepped in animal feces amid the chaos as four monkeys ran away into woodland.
The next day she developed Covid-like symptoms including a cough and pink eye.
Doctors gave her the first of four rabies injections together with an anti-viral drug.
She said on Facebook she was contacted by the CDC and is being monitored for symptoms of rabies and monkey herpes virus B.
(Excerpt) Read more at thesun.co.uk ...
I worked with various types of primates as a zookeeper.
Some of the macaques were aggressive. But other monkeys were quite friendly.
There was one large male chimpanzee that no one trusted. We once had to enter his area, and we had two men with 30-30s aimed at the tranquilized chimp in case he woke up.
The monkeys at the Taj had the run of the place. It is India, after all, with a monkey god in the Hindu pantheon. The one time I did look directly at one for more than a couple seconds the reaction was “What you lookin’ at! You lookin’ at me? You want a piece of me?”. I don’t doubt at all your experience with primates in a zoo. Merely saying that I’ve seen temple (in this case a tomb) monkeys in India behave like a biker gang on meth. And that when aroused they can do some serious harm.
I’ve had to use both my 40 db ear plugs + muffs just to shop Kroger’s Concert loud musice, mask screaming over it instead of turning it off. Now they have the heater blower drowning that out. These Hearing aids are for those who worked on Flight Decks level noise. I use to hear quite well. Till that first Meniere’s attack. 2nd one made it woirse, another I’ll be deaf. And sure can’t afford Cochlear implants. Out of Pocket expemse.
Where were those monkeys headed, hmmmm...?
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