Wild Monkey Sightings in Orange City, Florida, Prompt Warning From Authorities

Facebook/Orange City Police Department

By Inside Edition Staff

First Published: 11:51 AM PDT, August 25, 2023

Police are warning residents to not approach or feed the monkey and to report their sightings to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission hotline.

Police in Florida are dealing with an ape-solutely bananas situation after there have been multiple wild monkey sightings in Orange City.

Orange City Police announced that they have received several reports of monkey sightings in the city and are urging residents to call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for help.

The sightings began Aug. 18 when a monkey was spotted at a fast-food restaurant Wednesday morning, WESH reported.

“I'm like this cannot be possible, and I'm like I'm telling everybody, 'listen, there's a monkey — a monkey'” Kim Bialobos, shift manager at an Orange City Popeyes, told WESH.

Officials believe the monkey that was spotted was a male rhesus macaque that may have come from a state park in Silver Springs, which has hundreds of monkeys, according to WESH. Police warn that the monkeys from Silver Springs do carry the herpes B virus and that it is important for people to stay away from them, the news site said.

Lieutenant Sheriff El-Shami with the Orange City Police said that the monkey has been a tough culprit to catch.

“We would send someone out to that area, no luck, we can't find it, and it just kept going on,” El-Shami told NBC 6.

Police are warning residents to not approach or feed a monkey and to report their sightings to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission hotline at 888-404-FWCC (888-404-3922).