All 100 lab monkeys accounted for after several escape Pennsylvania highway crash

DANVILLE, Pa. (AP) — The final of the escaped monkeys from the crash of a truck towing a trailer load of 100 of the animals was accounted for by late Saturday, a day after the pickup collided with a dump truck on a Pennsylvania freeway, authorities mentioned.

A number of monkeys had escaped following Friday’s collision, Pennsylvania State Police mentioned. However just one had remained unaccounted for as of Saturday morning, prompting the Pennsylvania Sport Fee and different businesses to launch a seek for it amid frigid climate.

Kristen Nordlund, a spokesperson with the federal Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, mentioned in an electronic mail Saturday night that each one 100 of the cynomolgus macaque monkeys had since been accounted for. Three have been useless after being euthanized.

The e-mail didn't elaborate on why the three have been euthanized or how all got here to be accounted for. However Nordlund mentioned these euthanized have been performed so humanely in response to American Veterinary Medical Affiliation pointers.

The cargo of monkeys was en path to a CDC-approved quarantine facility after arriving Friday morning at New York’s Kennedy Airport from Mauritius, an Indian Ocean island nation, police mentioned. The Atlanta-based CDC mentioned the company was offering “technical help” to state police in Pennsylvania.

The collision occured Friday on a state freeway close to an Interstate 80 exit in Pennsylvania’s Montour County, Trooper Andrea Pelachick advised The Day by day Merchandise newspaper of Sunbury.

The situation of the quarantine facility and the kind of analysis for which the monkeys have been apparently destined weren’t clear, however cynomolgus monkeys are sometimes utilized in medical research. A 2015 paper posted on the web site of the Nationwide Heart for Biotechnology Data referred to them as probably the most broadly used primate in preclinical toxicology research.

Earlier, police had earlier urged folks to not search for or seize any monkey, with troopers tweeting: “Anybody who sees or locates the monkey is requested to not method, try and catch, or are available contact with the monkey. Please name 911 instantly.”

Trooper Lauren Lesher had mentioned the priority was “attributable to it not being a domesticated animal and them being in an unknown territory. It's exhausting to say how they'd react to a human approaching them.”

Lesher mentioned state police secured the scene for the Pennsylvania Division of Well being and the CDC.

The drivers of the vehicles weren’t harmed and a passenger was transported to a medical middle for remedy of suspected minor accidents, in response to the state police’s crash report.

A crash witness, Michelle Fallon, advised the Press Enterprise newspaper of Bloomsburg that she spoke with the pickup driver and a passenger after the crash. The driving force seemed to be disoriented, and the passenger thought he might need injured his legs, she mentioned.

Crates littered the highway Friday as troopers looked for monkeys, rifles in hand. Valley Township firefighters used thermal imaging to attempt to find the animals, and a helicopter additionally assisted, the Press Enterprise newspaper of Bloomsburg reported.

The pickup was heading west on I-80 when it bought off on the Danville exit after which instantly tried to get again on, driving throughout the opposite lane, the newspaper reported.

Fallon advised the Press Enterprise that she was behind the pickup when it was hit on the passenger aspect by the dump truck, tearing off the entrance panel of the trailer and sending greater than a dozen crates tumbling out.

She and one other motorist who stopped to assist have been standing close to the scene when the opposite driver mentioned he thought he noticed a cat run throughout the highway, Fallon mentioned.

Fallon peeked right into a crate and noticed a small monkey trying again at her, she advised the newspaper.

“They’re monkeys,” she advised the opposite motorist.

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This story corrects the primary title of a state trooper to Lauren, not Laura, Lesher.