Police warn public not to approach lab MONKEYS that got away in Pennsylvania truck crash as they hunt it down and 'shoot dead' three other escapees

Crates littered the road Friday as troopers searched for monkeys, rifles in hand. Valley Township firefighters used thermal imaging to try to locate the animals, and a helicopter also assisted, the Press Enterprise newspaper of Bloomsburg reported.  

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the agency was providing 'technical assistance' to state police. The shipment of monkeys was en route to a CDC-approved quarantine facility after arriving Friday morning at New York's Kennedy Airport from Mauritius, the agency said.

The truck had been on its way to a lab, Trooper Andrea Pelachick told The Daily Item newspaper of Sunbury.

One of the monkeys (pictured) was found in a tree, and three shots were later heard, WNEP reported. The condition of all four monkeys is not yet known

The Pennsylvania Game Commission and other agencies used a helicopter to search for it amid frigid weather 

Crates littered the road Friday as troopers searched for monkeys, rifles in hand. Valley Township firefighters used thermal imaging to try to locate the animals, and a helicopter also assisted 

The location of the lab and the type of research for which the monkeys were destined weren´t clear, but the cynomolgus monkeys are often used in medical studies. A 2015 paper posted on the website of the National Center for Biotechnology Information referred to them as the most widely used primate in preclinical toxicology studies.

Lesher said state police secured the scene for the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Although macaque monkeys are cute, PETA reminded residents after the crash that 'there is no way to ensure that monkeys are virus-free,' noting that 'records show that monkeys in laboratories in the US have been found with tuberculosis, Chagas disease, cholera and MRSA.'   

The monkey isn't just dangerous, it's expensive - crab-eating macaques can cost up to $10,000, according to the New York Times.  

The monkeys, whose DNA is similar to humans', have been in high demand amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with some scientists calling for an emergency reserve of the test subjects similar to the country's stockpiles of oil and grain. 

A crash witness, Michelle Fallon, told the Press Enterprise newspaper of Bloomsburg that she spoke with the pickup driver and a passenger after the crash. The driver appeared to be disoriented, and the passenger thought he might have injured his legs, she said.

PETA noted that 'records show that monkeys in laboratories in the US have been found with tuberculosis, Chagas disease, cholera and MRSA.' The crab-eating macaque pictured is not the monkey missing in Pennsylvania

The pickup was heading west on I-80 when it got off at the Danville exit and then immediately tried to get back on, driving across the other lane, the newspaper reported.

Fallon told the Press Enterprise that she was behind the pickup when it was hit on the passenger side by the dump truck, tearing off the front panel of the trailer and sending more than a dozen crates tumbling out.

She and another motorist who stopped to help were standing near the scene when the other driver said he thought he saw a cat run across the road, Fallon said.

Fallon peeked into a crate and saw a small monkey looking back at her, she told the newspaper.

'They´re monkeys,' she told the other motorist.

Jamie Labar, who was working the front desk of a nearby Super 8, said she initially thought it was a joke when someone told her of the accident. Then, she began to worry about the animals weaving through traffic and braving the cold weather, which was expected to drop below zero on Friday night. 

'I hope somebody gets them out of the cold, whoever it is,' she told the Times. 'I want one, they are adorable.'