Officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are searching for a monkey that was spotted several times in Apopka.
FWC officials said it appears to be a rhesus macaque that likely came from the Silver Springs, Florida, area.
Officials are warning residents not to approach the monkey because it could charge toward people.
In the 1930s, a man named Colonel Tooey brought a troop of rhesus macaques to Silver Springs, Florida, for a boat tour attraction, according to legend. The monkeys escaped the attraction and now live in the area.
Monkeys have been spotted across Central Florida, even as far as Lady Lake, Florida, which is about 40 miles away.
“It was a little too big to be a raccoon, a little too brown, and as we got little closer it kind of turned and looked at us and it was a monkey,” Apopka resident Keri Locke said.
Primate researchers said it’s hard to say why the monkey was spotted in Apopka.
“It could be someone who maybe got kicked out of its group and it might be trying to establish a new group,” Elena Lamar, deputy director of animal operations at the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens, said. “But it’s hard to say because it’s a long way from Ocala to Apopka.”
Lamar says anyone who sees the monkey should stay away because the animals can be aggressive and can carry diseases such as tuberculosis, hepatitis or herpes.
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