Quit monkeying around

Lebanese monkey still on the run in northern Israel

The primate that infiltrated the border last week continues to show up in various towns in northern Israel, evading all efforts to capture it

By ToI Staff 4 June 2019, 1:14 am Edit
A monkey, which escaped from a farm in southern Lebanon and crossed into Israel, explores a stack of empty fruit crates in the town of Dir al Assad. (Twitter screenshot, June 3, 2019)
A monkey, which escaped from a farm in southern Lebanon and crossed into Israel, explores a stack of empty fruit crates in the town of Dir al Assad. (Twitter screenshot, June 3, 2019)

A monkey that escaped into Israel last week from a small farm in Lebanon was spotted Monday still enjoying life on the run as it continued to evade capture.

The monkey was filmed sight-seeing at the village of Deir al-Assad in the Upper Galilee, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) south of where it escaped from the Ship of Peace farm run by Beatrice Maugerin, a French nun, in the village of Qouzah, near Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon, Channel 12 news reported.

A few hours later the primate was seen again near a school in the village and local residents placed a trap in the school yard, but failed to lure the monkey in. Police confirmed that they were assisting the Nature and Parks Authority in efforts to capture the small, albeit cute, beast, the report said.

So far, all efforts to capture the monkey, who climbed over the highly protected border security fence last week, have come up empty handed.

The police also reported that should the monkey be captured, they were considering returning it to Lebanese territory via the border crossing at Rosh Hanikra.

The vervet monkey, whose species hails from Africa, was spotted earlier in the Israeli communities of Zar’it, Shtula and the Druze town of Hurfeish.

 

Most Popular
read more: