Mystery monkey of Tampa Bay attacks 60-year-old woman

Tampa Bay, FL, United States (4E) – The mystery monkey of Tampa Bay, a notorious figure in the area for more than three years now, has reportedly bitten a 60-year-old woman in an unprovoked attack last Monday in south St. Petersburg.

According to Gary Morse, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the monkey, a rhesus macaque, bit the woman on her back while she was sitting outside her house; the monkey repeated the attack after the woman stood up.

The daughter of the victim, who heard her mother screaming from the porch, said that the monkey has visited the woods outside the family’s house nearly every morning for the past year and a half. She added that her mother was able to grab the monkey’s leg from behind before tossing him into the bushes where it disappeared.

Doctors gave the monkey’s victim several shots to prevent infections because she has several puncture wounds and scratches.

Wildlife officials have warned residents that a wild monkey on the loose is dangerous.

Morse said that the public has been cautioned on the harms of feeding this animal and added that it is a shame that it has come to this because human kindness and food cannot overcome millions of years of genetic evolution.

The monkey, which became an endearing figure in Tampa Bay, has already earned a Mystery Monkey Facebook page, a Comedy Central’s Colbert Report feature and a National Geographic special.

The animal was reported to be never been aggressive, until recently.

Wildlife officials have dispatched a trapper to the area after receiving the incident report last Tuesday.

The location was deliberately not identified by authorities to keep people away from the area which might scare the monkey away.

FWC will attempt to trap the monkey alive but because of the attack, there is a possibility that it would be killed.

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