Tupelo residents are asked to help find Oliver the white-faced capuchin.
By Emily Le Coz
Daily Journal
TUPELO – A white-faced capuchin escaped from the Tupelo Buffalo Park and Zoo on Tuesday, triggering a citywide search for what authorities call a “smart little monkey.”
Oliver the capuchin apparently picked the lock to his pen at about 8 a.m. and led park
staff on a wild chase through their trail system before eventually escaping.
Now, the park seeks help from residents to bring Oliver back home.
“If you see him, call us,” said park employee Ann Stewart, who said the small mammal will respond to his own name and might take bait of bananas, marshmallows or grapes.
Do not try to touch him, though, Stewart warned: “He will bite. People around here have handled him, but he will bite. Just call the Buffalo Park.”
Oliver is a nine-year-old capuchin, a species of monkey native to South and Central
America. According to Wikipedia, it’s one of the most common monkeys and best known as an organ grinder’s sidekick. A capuchin also played Marcel in the T.V. series Friends.
Stewart thinks Oliver could be in the Country Club or Colonial Estates areas but said he could have traveled much farther given his ability for speed.
“He could outrun the horses,” she said. “You can’t catch him. If he doesn’t want to be
caught you can’t catch him.”
Anyone spotting Oliver is asked to call the park at 844-8709, extension 0. After 5 p.m., call 401-3849.
Read more on this story in Wednesday’s Daily Journal.
Filed under: Djournal.com
[...] is on the lookout for a sneaky simian safe-cracker from the Animal Uprising™ who managed to free himself from jail by picking the lock of his cell. Yes, Oliver "Capuchin" Monkey is on the lam in [...]
please catch him up there! …someone said he heard that our Jackson city council has a vacancy & that he would fit in nicely– Please stop him before he gets to Jackson-