Posted on 09/09/2001 7:11:48 AM PDT by billorites
An 8-foot-long Amazonian monkey on the loose in southern New Hampshire has local authorities hanging bananas and oranges in the trees around Danville, but as of yesterday the woolly primate had yet to take the bait.
``Our main concern is he won't make it through winter,'' town animal control officer Denise Laratondo said. ``I just want to catch the poor guy. We won't destroy him; he's an endangered species.''
The first sighting of the critter believed to be a Humbolt's woolly monkey came Aug. 31, when town Fire Chief David Kimball saw it leap across Kingston Road and disappear.
``I couldn't believe what I was seeing,'' the chief told the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune. ``(My wife) told me I had flipped when I told her.''
Since then, eight other people have spotted the 4-foot-tall monkey with an equally long tail and woolly fur of dark brown and hints of red.
But no one has called Laratondo soon enough for her to catch a glimpse of the monkey. So far, authorities have no clue where the simian phantom came from, but Laratondo figures they have narrowed its range down to roughly three miles.
The Humbolt's woolly monkey is an endangered species and illegal to possess in New Hampshire, which likely explains why no one has reported the exotic pet missing.
Laratondo said the town would not press charges against the owner if only he or she would contact her office and offer some hints about how to capture the monkey.
``They can even do it anonymously,'' Laratondo said. ``The owner would help a lot. We would at least know the monkey's name.''
The Danville Animal Control Office can be reached at (603) 492-2156.
Just like Sasquach, eh?
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