The Back Alley Archives

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida -- The mystery monkey of Tampa Bay has been a celebrity for more than three years now. He has been spotted all over the Bay area, has his own Facebook page, been featured on Comedy Central's Colbert Report, and has been a popular resident in south St. Petersburg... until now.

The rhesus macaque has bitten someone in the area of Boyd Hill Nature Park, an elderly woman.


Jeff Seilbach is a neighbor of the woman who was attacked, and says it was just a matter of time. "You should see my neighbor's back. The bite marks and claw marks. It just shows you what this animal is capable of," says Seilbach.


10 News spoke with the victim, who wishes to remain anonymous.


"I was in shock. He's been here about a year and a half, that we've known... but they're still wild animals," she says. "Lately he's gotten aggressive with male teenagers, male people. And the people in the neighborhood stay at a distance, but they don't realize at any given moment, he could flip.


On Tuesday, the victim's daughter told 10 News, "The monkey is not afraid of people, so I don't go outside very often. I don't trust the monkey."


Neighbor Jeff agrees. Just a few months ago, wildlife officials urged the public not to feed the monkey, fearing he would become dependant on humans for food, becoming aggressive, and that's exactly what's happened.


"He gets up in my tree and starts shaking it because he wants to be fed. If you don't feed him, he cops an attitude," says Seilbach.


The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission issued this statement Tuesday night: "FWC's concern is for the woman who was bitten and the animal. In order to bring this to its best possible conclusion, we need the cooperation of everyone in staying away from the area so that we can do our job."


The monkey attack victim says she hopes the animal will not be killed, but instead captured and put in a sanctuary. Officials believe the monkey was cast out of a colony in Silver Springs, near Ocala.

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida -- The Mystery Monkey's days may be numbered.


At about 40 pounds and less than 3 feet tall, the Mystery Monkey has stirred up a St. Petersburg community and gained national attention. He's become part of the neighborhood and some homeowners want him to stay, but is that what's best for the Mystery Monkey, who's not so much of a mystery anymore?


Saturday morning in the south St. Petersburg neighborhood the monkey frequents went on as usual, whether it was a day on the greens, a morning work out on the bike, or a walk with the dogs. But one resident preferred hiding in the woods.


"He's like the mask bandit you can't find," said golfer Bill Buttner.


Known as the "Mystery Monkey," the rhesus macaque has become more like a neighbor who drops by unexpected. "He's been on our roof couple of times, our lanai a couple of times, in the back yard. A year ago, he was on a window ledge peeking in," said Jerry Bishop.


"He's not threatening," said Buttner.


The monkey did not appear dangerous until he bit a homeowner on the shoulder, but was it an attack? Wildlife rescuer Vernon Yates said no. "I don't think it's fair to say it was an attack. The monkey got on her shoulder, she freaked, he freaked, they couldn't separate from each other," said Yates. "What it does prove is the monkey is becoming more socially accepting to people, which does create a bigger danger."


It's clear the monkey is being fed. Along the wooden fence where many golfers say they see him sitting, there are pieces of fresh half-eaten apples on the ground.


Traps with food have been set, but Yates said they don't work because people disturb them. The next step is a trap using a 1-year-old macaque as a lure. Yates is confident this will work "because he's socially starving for his own kind."


Yates believes people are the monkey's number one enemy right now. "For his own well-being, they need to not to make eye contact with him. They need to not feed him. They need to leave him alone," said Yates.


If you encounter the monkey, his behavior from showing teeth to lunging at you should not be thought of as playful, but a warning. "In his own language, it's him telling you to back off," said Yates.


If the monkey bites another person, Yates said the outcome will not be good. "At that point, he will become a public danger. No question he will be shot."


When the trap using the live monkey is set, Yates said it will be watched 24/7 to make sure no one tampers with it. Once the monkey is captured, he will be sent to one of two private wildlife rescue facilities.

"In some ways I'll give him credit," Yates told CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman last week about the primate's days on the run. "He knows not to get up into power lines. He'll run to a road, he stops and looks both ways for traffic before he runs across it. This is one of the most intelligent monkeys that I think I have ever seen."

Mystery Monkey 'adjusting quite well' at Dade City's Wild ThingsJIM REED/STAFF

Randy Stearns, president of Wild Things in Dade City, says Cornelius is expected to be joined by a female rhesus macaque in the next month.

ByRONNIE BLAIR| The Tampa TribunePublished: January 02, 2013
Updated: January 02, 2013 - 11:31 AM
DADE CITY --The Mystery Monkey of Tampa Bay, a rhesus macaque who now goes by the name Cornelius, is starting to make himself at home at Dade City's Wild Things, where he is a featured stop on the zoo's riding tour.

"He's adjusting quite well," said Randy Stearns, the zoo's president and head animal trainer.

The Mystery Monkey, something of a celebrity in the region, remains quite popular, Stearns said, as callers and visitors to the park often ask about him. The riding tour has become especially busy during the holiday season, he said.

Right now, the monkey lives alone in his enclosure, but in the next month he is expected to be joined by a companion. A female rhesus macaque past her breeding years will be brought in from another facility, Stearns said.

Cornelius moved in at Dade City's Wild Things on Dec. 3, about a month after his capture in St. Petersburg put an end to a four-year odyssey in which he eluded would-be captors as he made his way around Pasco, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

The monkey's origins were unknown, but speculation has been that he traveled from the Silver Springs area near Ocala, where a group of rhesus macaques has made its home for decades.

Cornelius may have been booted out of his troop during a battle over dominance and headed south in search of other macaques.

While on the run, the monkey became a media sensation.

He drew thousands of friends to a Facebook page devoted to him and was featured on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report."

Stearns said Cornelius is becoming accustomed to the people who stop by to see him in his enclosure, a wooden house inside a nine-gauge chain-link cage.
He's also getting used to the "captive food" set out for him each day, and peanuts have become a favorite.

"He eats those first," Stearns said.

A companion for Cornelius isn't the only addition planned for Dade City's Wild Things in 2013.

The 22-acre zoo is working on new shows and hopes to finish a zip line over the tiger habitat, Stearns said.