Monkey seen? Officials search for missing macaque

[July 09, 2012]  WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) -- Searchers trying to find an 8-pound monkey that escaped more than a week ago are now playing sounds of a baby monkey to try to recapture the wayward animal.

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center spokesman Chad Campbell told the Winston-Salem Journal (http://bit.ly/MPxdJJ) that someone reported seeing the monkey in southwestern Forsyth County on Friday. But crews didn't see the animal when they arrived. This particular type of monkey, called a macaque (muh-KAK), escaped from the Wake Forest University Primate Center.

Campbell says searchers have set up humane traps and are playing baby monkey calls to lure the animal. Officials hope the monkey will respond to the calls because she is a breeding animal used in research.

The 16-year-old macaque is originally from Indonesia and has been in captivity since 2008.

[Associated Press]

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