WILTON MANORS, Fla. – A clever vervet monkey is on the loose in Wilton Manors and authorities have been trying to catch it.
The problem primate has been spotted multiple times but it continues to elude its captors.
Angie Cannon and her mom Joan see a lot of wildlife behind their Wilton Manors home, but Wednesday was a first.
“So I’m sitting in the chair with my little coffee cup, then I look up and I saw something jump from the tree on to the top of the house,” she said. “I thought, ‘What the heck was that?’ Because it was bigger than an iguana. You know we got a lot of those.”
It turned out to be a monkey.
“He’s running across -- I had run over here and grabbed my phone really quickly and I just got him because he’s very quick,” Cannon said. “Then he turned around and gave us a little shot, like almost a hello, and over the fence he went, and you heard a bunch of ducks go, ‘Quack.’”
Missy Williams is with the Vervet Monkey Sanctuary Project in Dania Beach.
“(The monkey) is looking for opportunities for mating,” Williams said. “He seems to be well versed in our urban landscape.”
Neighbors in the area of Northwest Ninth Avenue have been left hoping for the next primate encounter.
“Tomorrow morning, I’ll be sitting out here with my banana,” said Cannon.
Members of the Vervet Monkey Sanctuary Project are encouraging residents who see the monkey to not approach the animal and instead contact them at 954-376-0370, so they can safely bring the monkey to the sanctuary.