ATLANTA, June 24 (UPI) -- An Atlanta university said Friday a 2-year-old rhesus monkey to be used in a research study has been missing from its compound for a week.
Researchers at Emory University's Yerkes National Primate Research Center noticed the 5-pound primate was missing June 15 when veterinarians were conducting their rounds.
"This animal is one of many specially bred rhesus macaques at Yerkes that does not have the herpes B virus, something common to the species," Emory said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "This animal was in the process of being assigned to a behavioral research study, which is the focus of the research at the Yerkes Field Station. The animal was not part of a scientific study in which it would have been infected with any disease."
Yerkes spokeswoman Lisa Newbern said research personnel don't know how the macaque may have escaped its compound which was fenced in with sheet metal at the top, the Gwinnett (Ga.) Daily Post reported.
"We don't know, and certainly that's something that we're looking at," Newbern said. "Part of this process is looking at the structural integrity, seeing if anything came loose."
Newbern said people should not try to get close to the monkey if they see it.
"It is definitely a wild animal. It is not a pet," Newbern said Thursday. "People should not approach it."
