Monkey On Western Move

[Savwafair2012 Profile]

Florida wildlife officials speaking from Oldsmar, Florida, said a loose monkey spotted last week in Hillsborough County appears to have jumped the border to Pinellas County.




The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said a monkey, believed to be a member of the macaque family, was spotted Monday at Boot Ranch Apartments in Oldsmar, three days after the final sighting of a similar primate in Hillsborough County, the St. Petersburg Times reported Monday.

Yet a third recent photo of a monkey (this from The Money Times) that has been associated with this week’s sightings in Florida has been published. But is the coloring on this monkey match the reddish tint of the earlier Tampa photo, below?

Gary Morse, spokesman of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said a map of the monkey sightings appears to depict a diagonal path headed for the Gulf of Mexico.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if it was the same one, and in fact I suspect it would be. Those animals can get around pretty fast,” Morse said. “How many monkeys have you seen in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties?”