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You may not have seen it on the news. It hasn’t been much covered. On Friday, a driver hauling a trailer filled with 100 monkeys crashed near Danville, Pennsylvania spilling crates all over the highway. The monkeys had arrived at John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens, New York from Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean, and were en route to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lab for testing. A woman at the crash site has developed a cough and pink eye. We’ve seen this movie. Clearly, scientists don’t watch sci-fi movies.
You have not seen much about this accident on the news, because the CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky is undergoing media training since she can’t seem to get a consistent message out to the public without causing even more problems. And, because just the thought of escaped lab monkeys sounds like the plot of a movie, say “28 Days Later”. That movie begins with activists releasing infected monkeys from a lab. Pretty soon the world is overrun with killer zombies. Just a drop of blood from a monkey can infect a human. Hmmmm.
In the United States, we import these Cynomolgus Monkeys for research because they are 90 to 93% genetically similar to humans. That seven percent difference is darn important. You can read an explanation of the monkey research here, but it means nothing to me. Not a fan of animal experimenting here. It seems in this modern age that it is barbaric and that computer modeling might be more effective. Plus, the CDC has been disastrously wrong about so much, say lockdowns.
Let’s recap our story so far, shall we? CDC needs monkeys to experiment on. They arrive at JFK airport and are trucked cross-country in cardboard boxes in a trailer on their way to a laboratory. The driver started to leave the highway and then swerved back on causing an accident with another truck. Cardboard cartons of monkeys spill out across the highway. From PennLive:
“Feces and urine from the terrified monkeys were reportedly smeared across the highway as crates—that weren’t strapped in as required—tumbled from the truck. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should be scrambling to ensure that numerous other people who were at the scene aren’t in danger.”
The Atlanta-based CDC is providing “technical assistance” to state police in Pennsylvania, the Associated Press reported.
Anyone who had contact with one of the primates was being advised to contact their health provider.
Monkeys in unstrapped crates were making like Joe Biden at the Vatican and pooping in the crates. I am shocked. I feel for the monkeys. I truly do. The CDC which manages to waste our hard earned dollars could at least pay to transport the poor monkeys properly.
This brings us to Michelle Fallon who was in her car behind the crash. She stops her car and is told a cat from the crash just ran across the highway. The New York Post will pick it up from here:
“I thought I was just doing the right thing by helping,” Fallon told local TV station WBRE.
But as she started looking at the dozens of crates that tumbled out of the truck, she encountered one of the agitated monkeys.
She recalled another motorist saying he thought he saw a cat run across the road just as she peeked into one of the crates and saw the monkey staring back at her.
Fallon later became alarmed when officials warned the public not to go near or approach four monkeys that escaped because they could transmit diseases. She contacted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which told her to take immediate precautions.
“I was close to the monkeys, I touched the crates, I walked through their feces so I was very close. So I called to inquire, you know, was I safe?” Fallon said.
Fallon opted to go to the hospital because she had an open cut on her hand and started developing pink eye symptoms, which she feared may have been linked to the monkeys.
She was given an initial dose of the rabies vaccine and has to take anti-viral medication for the next two weeks.
Open cut on hand and pink eye and monkeys. Great. Here is the opening scene from 28 Days Later:
Three of the monkeys were euthanized. They may have been injured in the crash and it was necessary. The CDC won’t say. I’ve seen this movie. It doesn’t end well.
Featured Image: shankar s./flickr.com/cropped/Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
OldTexan says: I remember reading this in the Dallas Morning News ~ Creepy Texas Monkey Stuff years ago
New York Times
By The Associated Press
Sept. 3, 1995
A decision by Texas wildlife officials to permit the killing of wild Japanese snow monkeys in South Texas is being condemned by advocates of animal rights.
“This is appalling,” said Kathi Travers, director of exotic animals for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. “Now it’s going to be hunting season in Texas on monkeys. Shame on the people of Texas if they allow it.”
In a memorandum dated June 23, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said, “Free-roaming monkeys may be shot by anyone who either has a hunting license or feels the monkeys are causing property damage or threat to humans or livestock.”
State officials also said that the animals, which the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say can carry the herpes B and hepatitis B viruses, posed a small health risk to people.
A hunting buddy of mine and I gave this about five minutes of conversation and decided it would be too weird to go down and shoot monkeys in Texas.
GWB says: Funny…. The fact they’re an invasive species that will destroy the currently balanced ecosystem doesn’t occur to these idiots. (Of course, they’re the same people who don’t get that untrammeled immigration will upset the current “ecosystem” of our American society, either….)
GWB says: Clearly, scientists don’t watch sci-fi movies.
NOBODY who makes decision watches those movies! They never watch horror films, either! This is why we can’t have nice things!
(And it’s actually true. The decision makers think those are just stories, the real world isn’t like that. They scoff at Murphy’s Law and the Peter Principle. They think that because of their reason they can just ignore the warnings of history – “We wouldn’t be dumb like that! We’re well-educated elites! We can ignore all the fools who went before us!” It’s called hubris, and it’s the primary virtue in Progressivism.)
computer modeling might be more effective
You mean like the model that said millions of Americans would die from Wuhan Flu in the first year?
You have to move from modeling to testing on something similar to humans, then to humans (that last 7%). We need to be able to test on animals.
The Atlanta-based CDC is providing “technical assistance”
It’s the Atlanta CDC that features in The Andromeda Strain. Just sayin’.
I’ve seen this movie. It doesn’t end well.
Which one? This one sounds like a combination of Planet Of The Apes, The Andromeda Strain, Outbreak, and World War Z. (Maybe add in Omega Man, as well.) (And don’t get me started on how ridiculous Outbreak is.)
So, lessons learned?
– If you encounter a crash with “exotic” animals running around, think a bit before jumping in to help.
– Also, you should carry leather work gloves in your car for emergencies (fires, handling flares, touching your radiator to refill it, even changing the tire), and they would be really useful if you decide to help.
– Also, it’s not just human predators we carry for – even in a suburban or urban setting you might encounter wild creatures that need to be put down.
– We really should not let ANYONE associated with the CDC (or any other national gov’t agency) handle or let contracts to handle ANYTHING associated with diseases!
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