SAN ANTONIO – Officials with Animal Care Services seized a juvenile Macaque Monkey Thursday morning after it reportedly bit a woman at a North Side bank.
According to an ACS press release, the monkey's owner apparently brought the animal into the bank last week where the primate bit a female employee. The animal was also unrestrained.
The owner reportedly fled with the monkey after the incident, ACS officials said.
The owner was located at a home off Babcock Road and the animal was removed with the assistance of veterinary staff from Primarily Primates.
The monkey will undergo thirty days of supervised quarantine as well as testing for Rabies and Herpes B since both diseases are fatal in humans.
ACS Assistant Director Vincent Medley says local law prohibits the keeping of primates within the city limits.
"Exotic animals, like monkeys and other primates, require specialty housing and diets along with experienced, highly educated handlers," says Medley. "Keeping a Macaque monkey in a private home is not only illegal--it's courting disaster. It's not a matter of if there's going to be trouble, but a matter of when."
Medley added state and federal laws also regulate the importing, buying, selling and housing of animals foreign to the United States.