By Rainbow Starr
Environmental Reporter
ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA - State wildlife officials are attempting to trap a wild monkey that attacked a local woman on Monday.
The unsuspecting woman was sitting on her porch when the rhesus macque jumped on her back. Both were startled and the monkey bit her on the back. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission blame neighbors for feeding the monkey.
The critter has been swinging around area neighborhoods for several years. Known as the Mystery Monkey of Tampa Bay, it even became a local celebrity with its own website, merchandise and a shout out from "The Colbert Report." The simian is not afraid of people, and has eluded pursuers in forests and cities. It has even shrugged off several tranquilizer darts in the past.
However, Monday's unprovoked attack has kicked the hunt up several notches. Rhesus monkeys are similar enough to humans to transmit several fatal and incurable diseases such as rabies, hepatits and herpes. There is no evidence that the monkey or the woman he bit is infected with anything.
Rhesus monkeys are native to south Asia. However, a troop was imported to Florida to appear in some early Tarzan films. A colony of wild monkeys descended from these former movie extras still lives in a state park 118 miles to the north in Silver Springs. Many theorize the Mystery Monkey of Tampa Bay was cast out from that colony.
His ancestors may have appeared in a Tarzan film, but now, the Mystery Monkey of Tampa Bay is starring in a cross between "Outbreak" and "King Kong."
The Mystery Monkey epic continues in "One Monkey vs. the World" and concludes in "Betrayed with a Kiss and a Banana."
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