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Monkeys in Morehouse? Residents swear they've seen primates[Louisiana]
Bastrop Daily Enterprise ^ | 11 Nov 2006 | MARK RAINWATER

Posted on 11/14/2006 8:15:31 PM PST by FLOutdoorsman

Alligators living in the sewers of New York City.

Remember "Mikey," the kid in the Life cereal television ads in the 1970s? He died when he drank a carbonated drink in the 1980s after eating Pop Rocks candy.

Urban legends. Great stories with little if any truth in their makeup.

There's what has become a rural legend in parts of Morehouse Parish.

There's a monkey in them thar woods.

Folks will swear they saw them. Wayne Warner saw one on Knox Ferry Road. Brett Smith saw one too, miles away from Warner's sighting, on Lum Day Road.

When you start talking about primates in the parish, people get kinda skeptical.

"If I tell you I saw a monkey," Warner says, "then I saw a monkey."

And most folks who know Warner agree.

"If Mr. Wayne says he saw a monkey, I believe him," says Mike Tubbs. "He's a real standup, honest man."

And Warner isn't the only one who claims to have seen a primate in these parts.

Dewanna Smith's husband Brett came home a couple of months ago and told her he'd seen one on Lum Day Road, off the Crossett Highway.

"I told him 'Brett, you've been working graveyard and it was dark,'" Dewanna says. "He says he swears it was a monkey. I was picking at him, but I believe him. And I sure believe Mr. Wayne."

A spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries in Monroe says though the he hadn't heard specifically about the Morehouse monkeys, he doesn't doubt the authenticity of the reports. He says people buy them as pets, realize they aren't meant to be domesticated and turn them into the wild. He also says (another legend perhaps?) that there are literally communities of monkeys is south Louisiana where boy monkeys met girl monkeys and made baby monkeys.

Justin Lee, an enforcement agent for the LDWF in Morehouse Parish, says he's heard the stories but has never seen either alleged monkey.

"It's almost like black panthers," Lee says. "You hear stories about black panthers in Louisiana. I know we have panthers, but I have never seen a black panther. And I've heard stories about the monkeys. I'm familiar with both of those areas (Lum Day Road and Knox Ferry Road), but I've never seen a monkey."

Warner said he heard stories during the summer of 2005 about people who thought they'd seen a monkey. His actual sighting came last fall, and it could have come two days after another sighting.

"About two days before I saw that one, I saw something cross the road in about the same spot that I thought must've been a dog," Warner says. "It was about 150 yards down the gravel part of Knox Ferry where I saw him. And I know what I saw that time. I saw a monkey."

After he started sharing his sighting with others in the area, Warner says people started relating their own stories. There was Paul Sander's son who said he got about five feet from the animal. Sanders' son said the primate had markings on its tail and face that led him to believe it was a lemur.

"Then there was another old boy who told me he thought he'd seen one but said he wasn't about to say anything about it because folks would have thought he was crazy or lying," Warner says.

Lee said primates are herbivores, who eat leaves and fruit. He said there is more than adequate vegetation in the area to support a monkey.

"They could survive or even thrive in this type environment," Lee said.

Thursday afternoon, a hunter was coming out of the woods along Mason Cave Road. The man, who asked not to be identified, said he'd heard Warner's story. And like others, he vouched for Warner's credibility. He then posed a question that bears repeating.

"Don't you think a boy monkey would get awfully lonely out here by himself?"

Who knows, there may be a community of monkeys in them thar woods.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; US: Louisiana
KEYWORDS: louisiana; monkey; parish; primates; welfare
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Before you laugh. Don't forget about the Deridder Devil Monkey.

http://www.americanmonsters.com/monsters/carcass/index.php?detail=article&idarticle=35

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1 posted on 11/14/2006 8:15:35 PM PST by FLOutdoorsman
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To: FLOutdoorsman

C'est impossible (me speak a little cajun)! All monkeys have evolved into humans!


2 posted on 11/14/2006 8:17:25 PM PST by Revolting cat! (Who invented rock and roll hiccups?)
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To: FLOutdoorsman

I've seen primate's in my town also. They drive cars, eat in restaurants, attend universities, transact business at financial institutions, drink beer, and go fishing.


3 posted on 11/14/2006 8:21:21 PM PST by posterchild (Spent some money on women and beer, the rest was just wasted.)
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To: posterchild

"primate's" should be "primates"


4 posted on 11/14/2006 8:22:01 PM PST by posterchild (Spent some money on women and beer, the rest was just wasted.)
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To: FLOutdoorsman
it's possible -- people do try to keep monkeys as pets and might give up and let 'em loose.

I live in New Orleans, and I know that people across Lake Pontchartrain have seen monkeys that escaped from Tulane's primate research facility there. (I doubt the the monkeys in Morehouse Parish are from Tulane, though, as Morehouse is in the extreme northeast corner of Louisiana)
5 posted on 11/14/2006 8:24:05 PM PST by verum ago (The Iranian Space Agency: set phasers to jihad!)
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To: FLOutdoorsman

6 posted on 11/14/2006 8:28:56 PM PST by jazusamo (Murtha still owes the Haditha Marines an apology-See DogMurtha.com.)
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To: FLOutdoorsman
Hey, they're claiming some "extinct" woodpecker has been spotted in the bayou.

Why not a minkey?

Doesn't Florida have skunk apes that people mistake for crypto creatures?

7 posted on 11/14/2006 8:31:00 PM PST by Calvin Locke
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To: FLOutdoorsman

NO doubt there be some strange critters down here in Louisianna. Even in the north part of the state. The Moorehouse monkeys are not that hard to believe. A couple of pets let loose, or escapees from the Monroe Zoo. I've seen a weird critter up that aways late at night a couple of times.


8 posted on 11/14/2006 8:38:36 PM PST by rawcatslyentist (When true genius appears, know him by this sign: all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.)
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To: verum ago

You would be amazed how that can happen. There was a wild bear that some dog had up a tree in the middle of Bossier City. The bear had a tag on him. Turns out he was form the Atachafalya Basin and prob just followed the Red River up to Boosier. Thats quite a feat when one thinks all the towns and cities that are there. So who knows I could see a escaped monkey from Tulane making its way up. Even thought crossing the Miss River would be a problem lol


9 posted on 11/14/2006 8:39:41 PM PST by catholicfreeper (Geaux Tigers SEC FOOTBALL ROCKS)
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To: pcottraux

"Gorilla my dreams" ping.


10 posted on 11/14/2006 8:42:07 PM PST by SunkenCiv (I last updated my profile on Monday, November 13, 2006 https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: Revolting cat!

Don' matter none to Boudreaux...he just cook him up wif a pot o' rice.


11 posted on 11/14/2006 8:44:39 PM PST by Oberon (What does it take to make government shrink?)
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To: Calvin Locke
Why not a minkey?

Must be some new species, never seen one do you have a picture.

12 posted on 11/14/2006 8:50:18 PM PST by org.whodat (Never let the facts get in the way of a good assumption.)
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To: FLOutdoorsman

A fews years ago, several people on my block insisted they saw a monkey wandering the streets late at night. My next door neighbor swore up and down he spotted one screeching and chattering as he scurried up and down his gutters. Several neighbors filed reports with the local authorities who scoffed at the notion. Eventually, police apprehended a feral child who, it turns out, had been raised by monkeys. He's now a caddy at a local golf club- not much help if you lose a ball in a water hazard but he's great if one gets stuck in a tree.


13 posted on 11/14/2006 9:01:54 PM PST by Krankor (kROGER)
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To: All

14 posted on 11/14/2006 9:04:46 PM PST by monkapotamus
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To: Revolting cat!

No, No, Ils ont Democratics.


15 posted on 11/14/2006 9:21:58 PM PST by Doc91678 (Doc91678)
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To: FLOutdoorsman
I wonder if this primate is friends with ManBearPig?
16 posted on 11/14/2006 9:37:20 PM PST by SeafoodGumbo
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To: Angelas; presidio9; Idisarthur; Hegemony Cricket; A knight without armor; new cruelty; SunkenCiv; ..
"Gorilla my dreams" ping.

Yeah, what he said.

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17 posted on 11/14/2006 9:43:53 PM PST by pcottraux (It's pronounced "P. Coe-troe.")
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To: FLOutdoorsman

I thought that was just a photo of a dead dog. Interesting.

http://www.americanmonsters.com/monsters/carcass/index.php?detail=article&idarticle=35


18 posted on 11/14/2006 10:10:25 PM PST by SunkenCiv (I last updated my profile on Monday, November 13, 2006 https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv
Image and video hosting by TinyPic
19 posted on 11/14/2006 10:22:58 PM PST by FLOutdoorsman
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To: FLOutdoorsman

20 posted on 11/15/2006 12:10:43 AM PST by ccmay (Too much Law; not enough Order.)
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