Florida monkey resurfaces near deli, synagogue

April 17 (UPI) -- A Florida deli owner said he spotted a loose monkey twice in one day and captured video of the primate running across a parking lot.

Shlomi Ezra, owner of a deli in Aventura, said he was checking on his business Monday morning when he caught a glimpse of the monkey.

"When I looked to my left, I saw a tail or something over here climbing," he told WSVN-TV of the moment he saw the monkey in a tree near the deli.

Ezra said he was not able to get his phone out in time to capture a photo of the animal, so he had a hard time convincing friends that the sighting occurred.

"My friend said, 'Yeah, you probably saw a cheetah.' They start making fun of me," he said.

Ezra had some proof of the sighting about 30 minutes later, when he captured video of it running across the parking lot of the Lubavitch Aventura South Synagogue.

"I said, 'Monkey! Monkey!' No one paid attention," he said.

The simian is believed to be the same animal sighted twice last month in North Miami Beach.

Animal experts said the vervet monkey likely wandered away from a monkey colony in Dania Beach after reaching the age of sexual maturity, when the African animals commonly wander away from their social groups in search of other monkey colonies to join.

Experts said vervet monkeys have exceptional urban mapping abilities and the wandering primate will likely return to its family in Dania Beach on its own.