NORTH MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Just when North Miami Beach residents thought they’d seen the last of a monkey that showed up in their neighborhood last week, the runaway primate made an encore appearance.
North Miami Beach Police cordoned off an area along Northeast 16th Avenue, between 172nd and 173rd streets, Thursday afternoon, after they received calls reporting monkey sightings.
The monkey stared at 7News cameras as it sat on a tree branch. Back on the ground, an officer snapped photos of the furry drifter on her cellphone.
Area resident Zachary Groffman said he didn’t even realize at first that he had spotted a monkey.
“I thought I saw a dog running down the street. Then he started jumping on the fence over here,” said Groffman. “It’s crazy.”
Groffman said the wildlife sighting took place just after lunchtime. “I thought I was seeing things,” he said. “I mean, honestly, I had to run down here to make sure it was real. It was real.”
The resident then called police. “I was like, ‘Yo, I don’t know what to do here. There’s a monkey on the loose, though,” he said.
Onlookers came as close as they could to the tree to catch a glimpse of the monkey.
Meanwhile, a Florida Fish and Wildlife crew tried to figure out how to handle the situation.
The sighting takes place more than a week after the monkey was first spotted, near Northeast Sixth Avenue, between 179th and 180th streets, March 20.
A woman captured the monkey scampering away from a parking lot in an industrial area west of Interstate 95. Another resident’s pool man took a photo of the primate in his client’s backyard.
Anthropologist Missy Williams, who heads the Dania Beach Vervet Project, spoke to 7News hours after the monkey was first spotted. “It definitely matches the body shape of a vervet monkey,” she said.
Wild monkeys live at West Lake Park in Dania Beach, and Williams said this monkey likely came from there. She suspects the primate was a male monkey who went away from his social pack.
Hours after police responded on Thursday, a North Miami Beach Police officer posted a video message urging residents to stay away from the primate.
“Please do not approach it or try to feed it,” the officer said. “At this time, we are working with local agencies to try to capture the monkey and return it back home.”
Officials left the scene after that video was shot. A larger crowd of monkey watchers came, binoculars at the ready, to see if they could spot the monkey in the tree.
Among them was Williams, who believes this is the same monkey that sent residents reaching for their cameras last week. She said it will likely surface again.
Williams said the monkey should be left alone — and Zoo Miami’s Ron Magill agreed.
“It’s a non-native animal. Any non-native primate, to me, has the potential of spreading disease, has the potential of being cornered and maybe becoming aggressive,” said Magill. “He could be dangerous to people, so I think people need to be very aware of that and stay away from that animal.”
Williams said vervet monkeys are very adaptable and have a great sense of direction. She believes this monkey could eventually find his way back to West Lake Park.
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