Lab Monkeys Are On The Loose After Major Traffic Accident
Lab monkeys have escaped after a major traffic accident. This is the kind of thing that sounds like the first scene of a bad movie.
This article is more than 2 years old
Ever watch the beginning of an end-of-days science fiction movie and there is a truck of experimental animals (or humans) being transported down the highway and you just know it’s all about to get real bad, real quick? Well, this is kind of like that except it happened in real-life. That’s right folks, this is one of those scenarios you just never, ever want to hear about, and yet it’s just happened. In Pennsylvania, on Friday, a truck carrying a bunch of lab monkeys was involved in a major car accident, and at least one of them has escaped.
As originally put out there by WNEP reporter Marshall Keely (via Futurism), a truck carrying a load of lab monkeys was involved in a crash off of Interstate 80 in Northeast Pennsylvania. Keely’s Twitter feed is a minute-by-minute detailing the beginnings of the apocalypse with authorities frantically trying to find and capture the monkeys that had escaped in the crash. It was believed that four went missing right at the outset. Three were found but as of this writing, there was still on the loose.
Apparently, this truck was full of more than 100 lab monkeys. The cynomolgus monkeys were able to escape into the nearby brush and, according to The Guardian, residents were warned to not approach them if they saw any signs. Instead, they were told to immediately call 911. In the aftermath of the crash, crates that “housed” the monkeys were seen all over the road and scattered about. It’s not known the condition of the drivers involved with the accident or where these monkeys were being transported.
In the current medical testing environment, it’s unlikely these monkeys are carrying some world-killing virus that’s about to be unleashed on the residents of rural Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, the testing of animals in clinical trials is so pervasive that these monkeys could have been involved in any manner of study. But it’s incredibly sad to hear about something like this, confirming some of our worst fears about the treatment of animals behind closed doors.
And though this one lab monkey remained on the loose, it’s unclear if would be able to survive the current conditions anyway. Temperatures dipped below freezing overnight while the search was in full effect. There is some chance, in this respect that the little guy is never found.
These lab monkeys aren’t the first example of a subject escaping while in transport from one destination to another. Back in 2020, three baboons went missing from a hospital in Syndey, Australia. They were scheduled to have a procedure done on one with the other two along to help keep the first calm. Apparently, a busted lock on the truck carrying them allowed the trio to escape. They were found a short time late. We are still waiting to see if this last monkey from the most recent incident will be recovered. And let’s just hope the little dude isn’t carrying something terrible along with him.
