3 lab monkeys that escaped, were captured after Pennsylvania crash have been euthanized

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Three monkeys that escaped their trailer after a collision on a Pennsylvania highway Friday were recovered the next day but have since been euthanized after officials assessed possible health risks.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement that the assessment included input from state health and police officials and that it was done as humanely as possible under American Veterinary Medical Association guidelines.

The animals were part of a shipment of 100 cynomolgus macaque monkeys from Mauritius to an unnamed CDC-approved facility used to quarantine foreign animals, the agency said in a statement Sunday. They had arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport Friday morning, the CDC said.

The other 97 were contained at the crash site in Montour County’s Valley Township, authorities said. The collision Friday on Route 54 near Interstate 80 happened when the pickup towing the monkeys in a trailer cut in front of a big-rig, state police said in an incident report.

The driver of the big-rig was uninjured, but the pickup’s driver was hospitalized after he said he thought he had minor injuries, according to the report.

Authorities were instructed to secure the area for the CDC and the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Andrea Pelachick said Friday.

The reason for the monkeys’ U.S. arrival was not confirmed, but Pelachick told The Daily Item newspaper of Sunbur they were headed to a lab.

Cynomolgus macaque monkeys are often used in non-clinical research, including safety studies, and are among the animal world’s closest human relatives.

Monkeys have been known to transmit diseases such as monkeypox and the herpes B virus. The B virus was reported to have killed a veterinary surgeon in China last year after he dissected two dead monkeys.

Authorities Friday night had asked people to stay away from the crash site and call 911 if they spotted one of the primates.

Dennis Romero is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.

Michelle Acevedo contributed.

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