Heading to St. Louis? You might want to keep an eye out… for monkeys.
It’s been nearly a week since law enforcement first received reports of monkeys roaming parts of the St. Louis area. Now, after days of unsuccessful searches, officials say they are moving away from tracking the animals themselves and focusing instead on identifying who owns them.
Download the SAN app today to stay up-to-date with Unbiased. Straight Facts™.
Point phone camera here
Wait… monkeys?
The saga began last Thursday, when animal-control investigators received reports of at least one monkey near O’Fallon Park in northern St. Louis. There were early suggestions that there could be as many as four monkeys on the loose, though that number has not been confirmed.
Justen Hauser, head of the city health department’s environmental health bureau, told The Washington Post that photos of the animals were reviewed by the St. Louis Zoo, which identified them as vervet monkeys.
Vervet monkeys are native to eastern and southern Africa and typically weigh between nine and 12 pounds. Hauser said it’s illegal to own them, or any other monkey, within the city of St. Louis.
The investigation
Since the first sighting, officials have spent days searching for the animals and asking the public to report any encounters. So far, none of the monkeys have been located.
On Tuesday, Hauser said the city is halting its active search for the animals and pivoting toward enforcement efforts aimed at identifying their owner.
“We have transitioned from responding to the reports of monkeys at large to a more enforcement of city ordinance,” Hauser said. “There are people that may have monkeys.”
He acknowledged that while the city has received a flood of tips from the public, separating credible sightings from false reports has been difficult.
“We did receive a tremendous amount of information from the community, but it was a challenge verifying the authenticity of that information,” Hauser said during a news conference.
Social media frenzy
Part of that challenge may be social media – which has fully embraced the bizarre story.
Users have flooded platforms with memes, videos, and AI-generated images of monkeys wearing St. Louis Cardinals gear or posing at iconic city landmarks.
Even local institutions joined in. The St. Louis Public Library shared doctored images on X of monkeys, and a goat, lounging at the library, reading books and sipping coffee.
St. Louis County followed suit, sharing a doctored image of the monkeys at the St. Louis County Parks.
Now, in an effort to bring the real monkeys home, Hauser says the city is offering amnesty.
Officials announced they will waive all charges and fees for the owner – or anyone currently sheltering the animals – if they come forward.
“We wanted to try and eliminate that fear of punishment,” Hauser told The Post.
