monkeys escape
source https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bonnet_Macaque_DSC_1125.jpg

ANOTHER PANDEMIC!?!? According to Michelle Fallon from Danville, PA, she is reportedly suffering from a slight cough and pink eye due to interaction with fleeing primates from a wreck when she was on the road.

Take a look:

‘Because the monkey did hiss at me and there were feces around, and I did have an open cut, they just want to be precautious.’

Fallon also received rabies shots as a precaution and reported her case to the proper authorities. she worried that she might have been exposed to a deadly disease and reported “covid symptoms.”

However, authorities told her she was at low risk of any serious harm or illness, but still monitor her condition and report any severe sickness to the Center for Disease Control.

This opened the floodgates. People were freaking out, wondering if this was the start of the next massive pandemic. 

Of course, people are treating this like the beginning of a movie or December 2019.

This “scientist,” known for his alarmist COVID-19 rants that some scientists would like to stop, seems to me to me trying to freak people out.

The Truth Came Out

But then it turned out she wasn’t actually sick from the monkeys. The woman did have pink eye and COVID symptoms, but only because she went to a party where others tested positive: 

“I want people to know I am not sick regardless of what they are reading that has been put out there in the media,” 

“I explained what happened and they said I was at very low risk of anything but I went to get checked out anyway because I started to not feel well,” she told the newspaper, saying COVID could have been the cause of her symptoms.”

It seems the media took Fallon’s Facebook post about the incident and her worries about being sick and completely upended it. Typical. 

Jokes aside, there is most likely very little reason for panic. The woman probably just had some monkey poo flung at her (as monkeys are want to do), and of course, she got pink eye. It would be weird if a monkey spat at me, and I didn’t get at least a sniffle.

The media is once again guilty of ginning up fear for clicks. I’m sad to say I almost (if not for my great editor, Hi Martha!) fell for it. 

Related: These Monkeys Loves Cats and Dogs But the Feeling Isn’t Mutual! (VIDEO)

How did the Monkeys Escape?

A truck carrying 100 monkeys to a lab in Pennslyvania crashed, sending crates full of long-tailed macaques flying around the highway.

No one was severely injured, and the monkeys appeared unharmed.

Thankfully only three monkeys escaped and were captured before they were humanely euthanized.

Why Were The Escaped Monkeys Euthanized?

According to Viktor Reinhardt of the Animal Welfare Institute, escaped monkeys are often euthanized because if they separate from their group for an extended period, they might become hostile once they return.

Why You Shouldn’t Panic

Many people are freaking out that the searchers had to wear PPE to find the monkeys.

But that is standard practice, especially since the monkeys had not gone through quarantine yet. Even if they were perfectly healthy, monkeys could still be vectors of disease and infection because they are wild animals. 

I know jokes about an animal-caused pandemic sting a lot more since it happened, but it is still OK, in my opinion, to poke a little fun with some dark humor. 

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