Community Corner

What Should Happen to Tampa Bay's Mystery Monkey?

The monkey, spotted all over the Tampa Bay area in recent years, seems headed for life in captivity at an animal sanctuary. Is that the right move?

The mystery monkey that had been on the lam in the Tampa Bay area for years has been captured.

The wild monkey, whom officials speculate had been cast out of a colony in Silver Springs, had previously been spotted everywhere from Pasco County to Temple Terrace, Town ‘N Country to Clearwater. He settled in southern Pinellas County before trappers finally caught up with him in a St. Petersburg neighborhood this week after he bit a woman.

The rhesus macaque monkey was taken to a Safety Harbor animal hospital for examination and is to be placed in quarantine for 30 days at an area wildlife compound while he is tested for diseases, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

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From there, the monkey will likely go to a sanctuary in Florida to be with other monkeys, and several have already expressed interest, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission spokesperson told the Times. There's almost no chance he will have to be euthanized, officials said, but it's unclear how the monkey will adjust to life in captivity.

If you've been following this story, we want to know: What do you think should happen to Tampa Bay's mystery monkey? Is life at a Florida animal sanctuary the right move, and can he readjust and flourish there? Does he belong in a zoo, or back out in the wild somewhere?

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