Some of the monkeys have been hit by vehicles, and biologist Missy Williams says the climbing primates are at a risk of electrocution from power lines.
In the shadow of the Ft. Lauderdale airport in Florida lives a troop of monkeys.
They are vervet monkeys, and they are not native to Florida. They’re descendants of a group of African monkeys that escaped from a lab about 80 years ago.
Missy Williams is a biologist who founded the Dania Beach Vervet Project, in hopes of caring for this out-of-place population.
“Since they are nonnative we can't release them... instead of being euthanized or given to another facility in the pet trade we are open to provide a very safe home for these animals in need,” she told CBS News. “My goal was to find some sort of welfare for them.”
Some of the monkeys have been hit by vehicles, and Williams says the climbing primates are at a risk of electrocution from power lines.
Another risk? Animal lovers who think they’re “doing good” by adopting a monkey they are unprepared to care for.
Williams currently has a 16-acre sanctuary for the vervet monkeys. She hopes to expand in order to care for more.
