Deputies responding to reports of a subject monkeying around found an actual monkey near a Missouri highway on Friday afternoon, officials said
The spider monkey, wearing what the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office described as a tutu, was found around 4 p.m. It had been staying at a nearby home and got outside after managing to open a door.
“After careful negotiations and some coaxing, deputies were able to get close enough to go ‘hands on’ with the subject and bring this bananas situation under control without incident,” the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a Facebook post.
Deputies surrounded the dressed-up monkey. One photo from the scene shows a deputy kneeling on the ground and holding the monkey’s hands.
The monkey was returned to its caretaker.
“In all seriousness, this is a great example of law enforcement officers never knowing what they’ll face on any given call, and having to be prepared to handle whatever the job throws at them,” the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a Facebook post.
The monkey was tracked down before dangerous weather hit the state over the weekend.
CBS News has reached out to officials for additional information on the monkey recovery.
It wasn’t immediately clear what type of spider monkey the animal was but various species of spider monkeys are listed as endangered, vulnerable or critically endangered under the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list.
The Missouri monkey was found just days after law enforcement in California encountered a spider monkey while on a call. Officers there found a baby spider monkey during a traffic stop. It is illegal to own a spider monkey as a pet in California.
