Up in the trees and running on the ground. There's a monkey loose in Walterboro (2024)

WALTERBORO – There was jailbreak this week that created a scramble.

Search teams were formed, some of which carried weapons. Social media posts of the suspect went viral, with one video of the escapee garnering more than 77,000 views, or about 14 times the size of this Lowcountry town.

Witnesses said the culprit was knee high, climbed trees effortlessly and had an affinity for bananas.

There is a monkey on the loose.

It’s unclear when the primate first found freedom. The Colleton County Sheriff’s Office did not release a report detailing the odyssey, or disclose the monkey’s owner.

Around town, the monkey’s supposed keeper is well known, but representatives for the rumored owner denied the animal association.

There were conjectures about the mammal’s species, which sheriff’s office spokesperson Detective Laura Rutland could also not confirm.

Some on a community Facebook page asked: Was it a baboon? An ape? Their ex-partner?

Analyzing a video provided by The Post and Courier, a primate expert said the escapee was likely a macaque, which in their home territory live in southern Europe, North Africa and Asia.

Witnesses have had run-ins.

Kennneth Broughton encountered the primate on May 23. His across-the-street neighbor was laying on her car horn. Still recovering from surgery, he ambled to the door to find the animal resting on his railing, facing the commotion.

“He was sitting there like he was at the zoo, just as calm as can be,” Broughton said.

He returned inside to grab his nephew. When he came back, the monkey had scampered up a nearby tree.

Monkey sightings in the Lowcountry are uncommon but not foreign. In 2016, nineteen monkeys broke out of the Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center in Yemassee, which sells many of their monkeys for medical research. Their freedom was brief. All primates were recaptured six hours after they uncaged.

A spokesperson for the center told The Post and Courier on May 24 the Walterboro mystery monkey is not one of their own.

"We're not aware of anybody missing," Greg Westergaard said, while noting the far distance Yemassee is from Walterboro, some 20 miles.

This scrambler allegedly has gone free before. A Walterboro resident known as Jam Bryant shared a video of the last time he saw the monkey zipping around, around five years ago. He said the primate lives just up the road from his home.

If it is a pet, it may be perfectly legal to own in South Carolina. While state law generally prohibits ownership of large grand apes, whatever species this is could be legal; a Department of Natural Resources spokesman said it was difficult to say. (DNR was aware of the hunt but was not called in to take part.)

Not everyone enjoyed a charmed interaction with the animal. Rutland said the monkey attacked a dog that was idling in a yard. She's advising the public look after their pets. The Post and Courier never received an incident report of the alleged attack.

The newspaper spent the afternoon May 24 driving around a Walterboro neighborhood, chasing supposed encounters with the macaque, searching for any information about the animal’s sabbatical.

On Mallard Street, home to one of the monkey sightings, three people were trying to find it. They requested the newspaper not share their names.

The group left mashed bananas in an area the monkey was captured in a social media video but they were not taking any chances.

Two came armed with a rifle and an air soft gun, which they said was for protection. They wanted to catch the monkey, but would not hesitate to kill if the animal threatened.

The monkey’s suspected owner did round up a catch team, Rutland said. Colleton County Animal Control is assisting in the effort.

Sightings can be reported to the sheriff's office at 843-549-2211.