TEWKSBURY, MASS. (WHDH) - Authorities are searching for a monkey that’s on the loose in Tewksbury, officials said.
Diane Charlton rushed to snap a photo of a monkey that she and her friend saw early Tuesday morning while out for a walk.
“Took a look over our right shoulder and we saw the monkey. And he was just sitting and staring,” she said. “Not aggressive or anything, his eyes wide open, black tiny face.”
Coincidently, they spotted the exotic animal outside the Shawsheen Animal Hospital on Main Street.
“I think it stunned us. you don’t see a monkey in the wild around here,” she explained. “And he just ran off after that.”
However, the curious monkey was not done with the Charlton family.
A day later, the primate showed up at their house a half-mile away from the animal hospital.
“I was just cleaning the pool and I had walked over, and I looked up and I heard a noise and he was over behind this corner, standing where the gate is, and he just jumped over and ran away when he saw me,” Charlton’s son said.
Police and animal control responded to the area but the elusive monkey was nowhere to be found.
Officers have set up a camera and left behind a little cage and some fruit to try and lure the little guy — or girl — to safety.
Doctor Michele Caruso, a veterinarian at the animal hospital, said people should not approach the monkey should they happen upon it.
“Some species of monkeys, and we don’t know what species this is, can carry something called herpes B, which causes encephalitis, which is fatal to humans,” she said.
The Shawsheen Animal Hospital said in a Facebook post that the monkey was last spotted Tuesday near their facility at 1415 Main St.
It is believed that the monkey is a pet that somehow got loose.
Anyone who sees the animal is asked to contact the Tewksbury Police Department at 978-851-7373.
https://twitter.com/TewksburyPD/status/1263237564254883840
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