IN THE HEADLINES: LOUISIANA: Two dozen monkeys escape from research lab

Sun | Nation & World

COVINGTON, La. - Workers were setting fruit traps and searching through woods for the last of two dozen rhesus monkeys that escaped from a Louisiana primate research center, the world's largest.

The monkeys broke out of their cage at the Tulane University Primate Center on Sunday night, startling suburban New Orleans residents who happened across the small creatures Monday.

The Tulane center has more than 4,500 monkeys. It uses the animals to study cancer, malaria, leprosy and other diseases. The escaped monkeys were used only for breeding and had not been infected with diseases, center manager Astor Bridges said.

The monkeys broke through a gate in a chain-link fence that surrounds their living area. Workers had captured most of the monkeys.