Missouri sheriff’s deputies catch escaped spider monkey

Authorities in eastern Missouri on Friday encountered what the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department described as a situation that was nothing short of bananas. Deputies found a subject—naked except for a tutu—that they said was “monkeying around.” The subject in question was a spider monkey that had escaped from a nearby home.

What happened next? Deputies managed—through a mixture of negotiation and coaxing—to convince the monkey to let them get close enough to catch him. After surrounding the monkey and taking it into custody, deputies returned the animal to its caretaker. The incident illustrated how law enforcement personnel often have no idea what situations they’ll have to respond to on any given day, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department said.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift about how South Carolina police recently had to assist in catching dozens of escaped monkeys from a lab in the state.