Pythons, Iguanas, and now

[HAB911]

Poo From Monkeys In Florida Carries Herpes Strain That Can Kill Humans

Wildlife officials have called for the removal of the free-roaming rhesus macaque monkeys from Florida after a research found that almost 30 percent of them in the state might be excreting a strain of herpes — herpes B virus or macacine herpesvirus 1 (McHV-1) — that could be life-threatening for humans.

Scientists found that a large number of the rhesus macaques in Silver Springs State Park were not just carrying the virus — which is common in the species — but had the virus in their saliva and other bodily fluids.

The forebears of the macaques, which are native to Asia, were brought to Florida in the 1930s — at a time when the Tarzan craze was prevalent in the state — in a bid to boost tourism.

About 175 monkeys roam freely across the park in Ocala, however, they have also spread to other parts of the state including Sarasota, and Tallahassee city.

http://www.ibtimes.com/poo-monkeys-florida-carries-herpes-strain-can-kill-humans-2640180

[dhill926]

1. send them to the White House...

I heard they make great pets....

[flying_wahini]

2. Send them to Mar a Lago! Teach them to get a kiss from Trump!

Tell Trump they bring good luck if you kiss them!

[csziggy]

3. "Tallahassee city" - no one calls it that!

I've lived in the county the holds Tallahassee for 45 years and never heard of any rhesus macaques anywhere in this area. If they were to be close to Tallahassee, it would be around Wakulla Springs where several of the Tarzan movies were filmed - and I have never heard of them being around there, either.

[HAB911]

4. Yeah, Silver Springs monkeys are famous

we have had lone wolf monkeys around Tampa/St. Pete for several years but I wasn't not aware any around Tally

[csziggy]

5. There have been reports of monkeys of some sort in the Green Swamp

North of Lakeland but I am not sure if those have ever been verified.

Huh - here is a report of a rhesus macaque on Alligator Point with a photo:

Monkey sighted on Alligator Point
Karl Etters, Democrat staff writer
Published 2:01 p.m. ET Dec. 10, 2015 | Updated 5:36 p.m. ET Dec. 10, 2015

Stephanie Parker has lived on the narrow strip of sand jutting into Apalachee Bay for 24 years. When she got a call from a neighbor this week about the monkey sitting on his porch, she and her husband Paul had to see for themselves.

“He didn’t want us to think there was something wrong with him, but said ‘there was a monkey on the railing,’” Parker said.

She jumped in the car and was able to snap a photo of the monkey before it disappeared into the dense underbrush near the West end’s Nature Conservancy’s Phipps Preserve.

Monkey sightings have been noted by Bald Point State Park officials, and earlier this year, there was a report of one sitting in a citrus tree in Lanark, miles away, said Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Rob Klepper.

Klepper said it has been identified as a rhesus macaque monkey, native to Asia, but not to Florida.

http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2015/12/10/monkey-sighted-alligator-point/77101068/

But that is far from the city of Tallahassee.

There was another report of more macaques in Lanark Village, farther west along the Gulf Coast, even farther from Tallahassee. I suspect whoever wrote the story and claimed the monkeys were in "Tallahassee city" saw that the reports were in the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper that serves the city and surrounding areas and didn't bother actually locating where the sightings had been.