Wild monkey sightings in Florida prompt warnings from officials

Officials in Florida are warning people to keep their distance from wild monkeys that have been spotted around the city.

Residents of Orange City, about 30 miles north of Orlando, have reported multiple sightings of wild monkeys within the city, the Orange City Police Department said Wednesday on Facebook.

The department said at least one of the monkeys — spotted Wednesday at a Popeyes — was later identified as a Rhesus macaque monkey, a species that is native to Asia and can become aggressive when fed, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The police department received two additional reports of wild monkey sightings Tuesday, said Lt. Sherif El-Shami, who said officials are unsure whether all sightings involved the same species or monkey. Animal control officers and police haven't been able to locate the animals, El-Shami said.

Police warned people not to feed or try to capture the monkeys and asked them to report sightings to the commission's Wildlife Alert Hotline.

Feeding wild monkeys in Florida is a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a fine of up to $500, according to information from the commission that the police department shared on Facebook, which says feeding wild monkeys can increase the likelihood of attacks, injuries and the transmission of disease.

Rhesus macaques are one of two species of wild monkeys — along with vervet monkeys — that are reproducing in Florida, according to the wildlife conservation commission.

The core population of Rhesus macaques has been spotted in central Florida, around the Silver River, where a boat operator first released six of them in the 1930s to attract tourists, the wildlife conservation commission said. Orange City is about 60 miles southeast of Silver River.

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The monkeys have had negative impacts on the state in the past: In the 1970s, Rhesus macaques in the Florida Keys "destroyed red mangroves, leading to massive vegetation loss and shoreline erosion," according to the wildlife commission.

Rhesus macaques in Florida have also tested positive for herpes B, a rare viral infection that can lead to severe brain damage or death if it isn't treated quickly, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been about 18 reported incidents of Rhesus macaques' biting and scratching humans in Florida, but there haven't been any confirmed cases of a human's contracting herpes B from one of the monkeys in the wild, according to the wildlife commission.