On the 21st (local time), one of the crab-catching monkeys that escaped amid a truck collision accident on a highway in Pennsylvania, USA, was spotted in a nearby tree. [Photo by Yonhap News]
[Asia Economy Reporter Seoyoung Kwon] A commotion broke out when monkeys being transported for medical experiments in the U.S. escaped after a truck carrying them was involved in an accident.
On the 22nd (local time), the New York Times (NYT) reported that according to Pennsylvania state police, a pickup truck towing a trailer carrying 100 crab-eating monkeys was involved in an accident around 3:20 p.m. the previous day. The truck collided with a dump truck while traveling on a highway about 240 km northwest of Philadelphia.
The truck involved in the accident was reportedly en route to a laboratory in Florida carrying the monkeys. Crab-eating monkeys currently fetch around $10,000 (approximately 11.93 million KRW) each, and there is high demand for them due to COVID-19 vaccine research.
There were no injuries in the collision, but four monkeys escaped from the trailer. In response, state police, along with wildlife protection authorities, conducted an extensive nighttime search in freezing temperatures and found three monkeys by the morning of the 22nd. However, the whereabouts of the remaining one monkey remain unknown.
The police urged via social media, "If you see or find a monkey, please do not approach or try to catch it yourself." Jamie Lava, a witness working at a nearby hotel, told the NYT that the temperature dropped significantly the previous night and expressed concern, saying, "I hope someone can keep the monkey from getting cold."
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