Monkey Business, Pennsylvania Crash Resulting in Research Monkey Escape Ends with CDC Monitoring Residents

There was a vehicle crash in rural Pennsylvania last week involving a truck transporting 100 monkeys to a CDC quarantine facility. {Story Here}  Three of the monkeys escaped in the crash and a search was conducted to locate them.  According to the update all of the missing monkeys have now been accounted for. The three escapees were euthanized.

This little detail from the local reporting is hopefully routine:

(Pennsylvania) […]  “Little monkeys, we got bears, we have coyotes, we have deer, you know all the time. A little 3-pound monkey doesn’t scare me, but why are they so concerned about it is what concerns me,” said Howie Lerch, Valley Township.

Friday night Newswatch 16 spoke with Michelle Fallon of Danville, who saw the entire accident. She jumped into action; helping both drivers and the loads they were carrying.

“I walk up back on the hill and this guy tells me, ‘Oh, he’s hauling cats. I said, ‘oh.’ So I go over to look in the crate and there’s this green cloth over it. So I peel it back, I stick my finger in there and go ‘kitty, kitty.’ It pops its head up and it’s a monkey,” Fallon said.

Fallon was contacted Saturday by the CDC and was told to monitor herself for any cold-like symptoms. 

She shared the letter from the CDC with Newswatch 16; it reads in part that, “the surviving monkeys will be quarantined and will be monitored for infectious diseases for at least 31 days before their release.” (more with video)

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Nothing to see here… move along, move along now.