Authorities say a wildlife official shot the monkey with a tranquilizer dart Wednesday. The monkey then went into the woods and trappers were able to grab it. He was taken to an animal hospital for a checkup.
The monkey eluded capture for years as it roamed neighborhoods. It even has a Facebook page and most recently bit a woman, causing trappers to ramp up their efforts to capture him.
Animal trapper Vernan Yates had been hired by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservative Commission to catch the rhesus macaque. It wasn't immediately known if he was with wildlife officials when the monkey was captured.
Cornelius, as wildlife rescuers named the rhesus macaque, was shot with a tranquilizer dart Wednesday afternoon in St. Petersburg and brought to an animal hospital, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
There, he’ll be quarantined until veterinarians determine he is free of diseases.
He first appeared in St. Petersburg about four years ago. Locals created a Facebook page for him, and fed him junk food to the point that he actually became overweight.
"He's been well-fed in the sense that he's been getting a lot of calories, but not well fed in that he hasn't been eating a balanced diet," said veterinarian Don Woodman.
If he gets a clean bill of health, he’ll likely be sent to a monkey sanctuary. Some locals wondered how he’d get along with his own kind after living among humans for years, but Woodman said not to worry.
He compared Cornelius’ situation to the movie “Castaway,” with Tom Hanks stranded on a desert island.
“He was so lonely that he formed a relationship with a volleyball," Woodman explained. "Nobody said, 'Oh, yeah, but he's free.'"
No comments:
Post a Comment