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Wild Monkey In North Lake: Residents Urged To Stay Away

    Locals can add another non-native species to the list of plant and animal species to keep an eye out for and to avoid if possible.  Now included on the list that previously included frogs, reptiles, and plant life, is monkeys.  Sporadically reported throughout Central Florida in recent years, this week a monkey was reported first in Umatilla and later in the Altoona area.
    Nonnative monkeys have long lived in the Silver Springs area, left behind from a movie filmed there decades ago.  However, in recent years, sightings have been reported elsewhere, and this past week the first verified sighting here was reported.
    The monkey was first caught on video by Umatilla resident Vickie Brown on Monday, June 2, outside of her home on Island Lake.
    “This morning my husband and I were talking and I caught movement out the window,” Brown said.  “I thought it was a big cat.  When I looked out the window closer, I yelled excitedly to my husband ‘Harry, we have a monkey in our yard!’”
    “It looked like a really tall cat.”
    The animal was meandering through the yard, and Brown was able to capture it on a short video, during which time it climbed a palm tree.
    "It went up in the trees and moved on north," Brown said. The monkey was only in the area 'for a short time' and moved on via the treetops.
    Days later, what appeared to be the same monkey was captured on a camera in the Altoona area, walking along the top of a fence.
    “We’ve had lots of different animals - bears, turkey, deer, fox, etc.,” said Brown of the visitor, “but this was a first.  It was really exciting.”
    And hopefully not a common sight in the area.  The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission advises residents to be cautious should they come in contact with a wild monkey.  The animals are known to be aggressive in certain instances, and also can carry dangerous diseases.
    The animal appeared to be a rhesus monkey, the same type of monkey that lives at Silver Springs.  Native to Asia, the Silver Springs monkeys - which this animal could descend from - carry the herpes B virus, a rare but deadly herpes virus that in certain instances could be transferred from monkey to human.
    If you should see a wild monkey, you are asked to contact the FWC at 888-404-FWCC (3922).