Florida county rounds up all 15 of the escaped Patas monkeys, one found dead.

[madfloridian]

That's kind of sad they got rounded up. They sounded like doggone brave monkeys to me, swimming a moat no one thought they could ever swim. They have been loose for months. Why someone would kill one of them is a puzzle to me.

They went on the lam back in April.


Photo from Javier Avellán
The reddish brown patas monkeys, such as this one at New Orleans Audubon Zoo, are not considered dangerous and carry no diseases.

LAKELAND - A dozen monkeys that escaped from a wildlife preserve during the weekend have all the ingredients to start a successful colony in the wild, including mature males, reproducing females and a dominant troop leader.

The people-shy patas monkeys have thousands of acres of sod and ranch land to roam in northern Polk County, even the sprawling 870 square miles of the Green Swamp if they get that far. And they are among the fastest of primates, clocked at up to 35 mph.

But success in the wild for this group means avoiding unfamiliar predators and search parties. So don't look for this colony to follow the lead of rhesus monkeys that escaped captivity and have been living in the wild around Silver Springs since the 1930s.

..."Their keepers never thought the patases would brave the dark waters of an 8-foot-deep, 60-foot-wide moat around their 1-acre island preserve north of Lakeland. But they did. Every last one of them went into the drink and over a wall.

Now they are all captured again, one dead.

At Last, All of 15 Escaped Monkeys Found, One Dead

The four Patas monkeys were caught by trappers in North Lakeland, not far from where they escaped.

The fifth was found shot to death near the Polk County wildlife park.

The 15 monkeys escaped from the park, which is still under construction, in April by swimming a moat they were not thought to be able to cross.

The park is under investigation

Safari Wild is owned by Lowry Park Zoo's embattled former president, Lex Salisbury, who resigned from the Tampa zoo Thursday afternoon.

He had been under investigation by Tampa city officials for his dealings between the zoo and his private Polk County park, with Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio and Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin White calling for his resignation.

Iorio has also called for an investigation by law enforcement.

Salisbury's dealings between his private company and the city-owned zoo weren't noticed until the monkeys' escaped - originating with a radio dispatch by a Polk County sheriff's deputy looking for the primates - and attracting intense media coverage.

Sounds like Swiftmud may fine him a little for building illegally in the Green Swamp, but it doesn't sound like much of a deterrent.

[madeline_con]

1. Urban legend has it that monkeys still ive on what used to be

Johnny Weissmuller's Tropical 'Wonderland in Titusville, in Brevard County. they are supposedly on an island, also. People claim to have seen them from time to time.

It's a shame some jerk felt he had to shoot one of the Lakeland gang. :(

[Stardust]

2. There was a colony of monkeys at Silver Springs near Ocala, FL. They

were left behind from a Tarzan film. I saw them myself although it's been several years - they were fairly tame and would hop into our boat. I assume they're still there.

[madfloridian]

3. I saw them from the glass-bottom boat once.

I can't think of their name, but they were pushy ones. The guy leading the tour said do NOT reach out to them. We did not have to...they would climb on low branches and reach out for the passengers.
They may not have been as mean as they sounded and acted, but we were warned off.

[Stardust]

4. You know those guys are protecting their own ass from lawsuits. Just in

case one of the rascals decided to bite. They would pull hair and get kinda pushy (not really aggressive) for treats but we never felt in danger from them, just cautious. They were funny as hell. I still have lots of pix but alas, they're old-fashioned prints.

[madfloridian]

5. You may be right. Memories of a young girl could be skewed.

Do you know what kind they were? There were a whole lot of them.

[Stardust]

7. According to this article, they are Rhesus monkies. The numbers you saw depend on

when you were there. If before 1985, there might have been as many as 170. After that, many were relocated and there's only 40 left as of the date of the article, 1987.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE0DD1F31F93BA25752C0A961948260

[madfloridian]

8. I there probably much earlier than that. Seems like they were everywhere.

Yes, Rhesus, that is what they were. I think the guide scared us on purpose.

[ColbertWatcher]

6. It's too bad Dr. Colbert is on vacation ...

[madfloridian]

9. Cute picture. I think I was pulling for the monkeys.

:hi:

[ColbertWatcher]

10. That was form a segment he did about monkeys that escaped from a zoo in TN. n/t

[lonestarnot]

13. Damn I love that Stevie! There is no other!

[quaker bill]

11. It is good they were captured

We have quite a few escaped exotic animals that have naturalized in FL. Down in south Florida there are now a number of exotic reptiles that have managed to form small breeding populations, some boas and reticulated pythons have been managing the new environment pretty well. Florida had some large reptiles on its own, but no native 25 foot long snakes. In central FL we have had some exotic snakes but they generally don't do very well because of the occasional freezing weather. However, we have had a few nile monitor lizards in the loose, and of course on the smaller end of the spectrum, cuban tree frogs and cuban anoles, both of which are displacing native species. In my career, I have done alot of swamp walking, I am not looking forward to running into a 25' long snake in the wild, the natives are challenge enough.

Of course, aquatic species do far better this far north. Some recent additions are the plecostomus (hard shell catfish) and the channeled apple snail. We have had large community operations to attempt to remove the channeled apple snail, but they are such successful breeders that it is unlikely they will be eliminated. The adults are easy to find because they get as large as a grapefruit. Unfortunately, they are just too large to be consumed by the endangered native snail kite, which subsists entirely on the smaller native apple snail, which the channeled apple snail competes with for food and habitat.

Private exotic animal operations can be a problem. I had a case with one that lost control of a small group of cape buffalo that got loose into a large state forest and wildlife preserve. They are rather dangerous animals, large and athletic with a tendency to charge humans on a nature hike. Fortunately they were captured, and the exotic cats (lions, tigers, panthers) were well contained. The nature preserve has a fair population of black bears, so it could have been lions, tigers, and bears, oh my.

[madfloridian]

17. I hope they shut this exotic animal operation down.

They have broken rule after rule and pretended they didn't. Tampa's mayor Iorio is looking into it I think.

[quaker bill]

21. Keeping exotics

requires a permit from the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. There are some pretty strict standards, however in the current budget climate it is unclear how much inspection and enforcement is funded. They could be rather short on staff and perhaps soon to get shorter.

[malaise]

22. Which reminds me - a Florida snake arrived in Jamaica in a container

on December 12th. There was much excitement as the people wanted their container and the authorities at the port refused to let their workers go near it until the snake was removed. I heard that the bastards fumigated the container and killed the snake rather than let the experts from one of the universities attempt to move it. Word is that the snake wasn't even poisonous.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20081221t220000-0500_144019_obs_snake_cargo.asp
<snip>

One week after a snake believed to be poisonous was discovered inside a container at Kingston Wharves Limited, the reptile has still not been removed and the container remains unstripped, racking up hundreds of dollars in charges for the importer.

A credible source at the wharf, who requested anonymity because he is not authorised to give statements to the press, told the Observer that the snake, estimated to be between six and eight feet long and with a head the size of a clenched fist, hissed at his colleague who went in to strip the container. The container had come into the harbour on a vessel from Miami, Florida on Friday, December 12.

[acmavm]

12. Wow, those are some smart monkeys. Maybe a couple will

volunteer to replace Reid and Pelosi. The monkeys have apparently figured out how to do the 'impossible'.

[happygoluckytoyou]

14. IN A RELATED STORY---> A chimp which escaped from Crawford Texas is being returned to his ranch!!!

[xxqqqzme]

15. and look at the damage he did!

He wasn't even a dominant male. He just managed to get to the highest branch and throw shit on anything that got near him.

[madfloridian]

16. Right except for one thing....Dallas gets the honor of his presence soon.

:hi:

[Demobrat]

18. I remember reading about this when it happened

and I was rooting for the monkeys! I saw some monkeys in the wild in Florida in the nineties. I don't remember where, somewhere near Miami.

[Swagman]

19. R.I.P. Patas monkey ! Life on the lam wasn't for you

[peekaloo]

20. Do you remember an earlier story that may have linked the monkeys

to disabling farm equipment? Batteries being run down after controls were "monkeyed" with. I'd bet one of the locals killed one because of that which is a shame. I was rooting for the monkeys!

About the time they originally escaped my sister and I drove out to that area and damn near ran over that goof from Action News 28. Can't think of his name but he's the one who always stands outside in hurricanes and I believe was once suspended from that station for monkey business of his own.