5 runaway monkeys caught, 10 still loose

LAKELAND , Fla., June 18 (UPI) -- Florida wildlife officials said they have recovered five of the 15 Patas monkeys that escaped from a Polk County, Fla., wildlife sanctuary.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said three of the monkeys were caught last week only a few miles from the private animal sanctuary they fled from April 19, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported Wednesday.

"They hadn't gone far," commission spokesman Gary Morse said.

Morse said trappers have set up "bait stations" to attempt to lull the monkeys into an eating routine that would make their capture easier.

"It's taken longer than we had hoped for," Morse said.

Lex Salisbury, chief executive of Lowry Park Zoo, said the monkeys had been given a home on a 1-acre island that was surrounded by a wide moat in the Safari Wild sanctuary; but the native African primates, which had been relocated from Puerto Rico, vanished from their new habitat within days.