NORTH MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Something unexpected startled residents in a South Florida neighborhood: a monkey on the loose.
The reports of the monkey on the run were made just after 10 a.m., Tuesday, near Northeast Sixth Avenue, between 179th and 180th streets, in North Miami Beach.
North Miami Beach Police said the animal was spotted by someone and that it crossed near the King of Diamonds nightclub.
@myNMBPolice is attempting to locate a loose monkey in the area of NE 6 Avenue between 179-180 Street. Information was received that the monkey came from the Industrial area west of I-95. @myFWC is also on scene assisting.
— North Miami Beach PD (@myNMBPolice) March 20, 2018
An area resident shot cellphone video of the primate in a parking lot of an industrial neighborhood west of Interstate 95.
“Say hi,” she is heard saying in the video, as the monkey sat on top of a Nissan sedan before scampering off.
“I cannot believe it. This makes my day,” she added.
“It definitely matches the body shape of a vervet monkey,” said anthropologist Missy Williams, who heads the Dania Beach Vervet Project.
Williams suspects the monkey spotted in North Miami Beach could be one of about 40 wild monkeys from Westlake Park.
“It’s not unusual for them to wander pretty far — and hopefully make it back to Dania Beach,” she said.
North Miami Beach resident Winifred Ancrum said her pool man spotted the monkey in her tree at the back of her home along Northeast 179th Drive. “He said, ‘He’s a big monkey.’ I said, ‘What?!'” she said.
Ancrum took 7News to the spot where her furry visitor came and went in a hurry. “I’ve never had to deal with this type of monkey business before,” she said.
Florida Fish and Wildlife crews later came to her property. “They said they had been looking for the monkey for about four hours,” she said, “and he ended up here in my yard.”
Cameras captured North Miami Beach Police cruisers in the neighborhood, as the department tweeted out information about where the monkey had been spotted.
Ancrum showed 7News a cellphone photo her pool man took of the monkey climbing her tree. “You see how big he is? And he has a very long tail,” she said.
She never actually saw the monkey herself.
Upon further investigation, police said they were not able to locate the monkey.
Williams suspects the primate was a male monkey who went away from his social pack and will likely find its way back.
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