Lab Monkeys Escape After Traffic Accident in Pennsylvania

"God bless the monkeys on the loose."

Make a Break

At least one monkey destined for a laboratory was still on the loose in Pennsylvania on Saturday morning after making a daring escape from a wrecked vehicle.

While the Guardian reported Friday night that four monkeys escaped a transport truck carrying about 100 animals after an accident, WNEP reporter Marshall Keely reported Saturday that one monkey still had a chance at freedom and hadn't yet been re-captured.

On Twitter, many of Keely's followers seemed to agree that a lab life was a horrible waste and hoped the monkey managed to find a new life in the PA wilds.

"I’d hide up a tree too if I knew pretty soon someone in a lab coat would be injecting/spraying/smearing and whatever else happens in those labs," one reader said.

"Hope they get away altogether," another added in response.

Four Little Monkeys

The crash happened around 3:30 pm in Danville, PA, according to WNEP. Authorities were using a helicopter to try and recover them, and released a photo showing one of the escapees perched in a tree near Route 54. But with temperatures dipping into the single digits, it's unclear how the single remaining monkey stayed on the run and how its compatriots are doing.

It's hard to overstate how cruel and painful animal testing can be, and in many cases it may not even yield results that apply to human bodies. Controversial animal rights organization PETA reported last week that a donkey was killed after escaping a PA lab with other donkeys, and that the incident followed a 2020 USDA complaint in which the same lab drained too much blood from a goat and ended up killing it. It's unclear if that lab is connected to the one transporting the monkeys.

Only months ago, One Green Planet reported that around 40,000 dogs, cats and primates are confined each year for animal testing.

Loose monkeys could theoretically cause problems in neighborhoods if enough of them got loose, but many remain on their side.

"God bless the monkeys on the loose," read one representative comment.

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