Tutu-wearing spider monkey rescued by police in Jefferson County

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Mo. - A spider monkey on the loose was safely rescued by officers with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office Friday afternoon.

According to officials, the pink tutu-wearing spider monkey was located near Highway 21 and Highway M just before 4 p.m. after receiving a call for an animal complaint involving a monkey.

"The context behind this is, our folks are kind of familiar with dealing with apes in the county; if you're familiar with that HBO documentary... it talks about an ape enclosure in the south end of our county, and they had escaped multiple times," Public Safety Information Coordinator Grant Bissell said. "When they got there, they found it was in fact not a gorilla or chimpanzee, but instead an eight-pound spider monkey."

The animal escaped from a nearby home it was staying at when it allegedly opened the front door and began exploring outside.

According to Bissell, one of the deputies who responded is a K-9 handler.

"The monkey actually kind of came up and tugged on his pant leg, and so he didn't really know what to do. He squatted down and was trying to offer some sort of safety. And he said the monkey reached out and grabbed his hands, and he said, 'OK, I guess we'll just stand here together until we figure out what to do," Bissell added.

Not long after, an individual came forward, stating she was babysitting the animal when it escaped. When police determined the timeline of events, the two went on their way.

"This was not a typical afternoon for deputies on patrol in Jefferson County. But you gotta be ready to handle anything that comes at you," Bissell said. "Sometimes that's a monkey."