Aug 8, 2007 12:13 am US/Eastern
Major Health Scare After Monkey Sneaks Onto Plane
Male Passenger Taken Into Custody For Questioning After Buying Monkey In Peru, Keeping It In The Open In Flight Cabin
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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A pygmy marmoset, similar to the one pictured above, was brought onto two flights into the United States by a male passenger from Peru, authorities say.
Sven Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images
CBS 2 HD has learned a monkey was apparently sneaked into the United States with a passenger from Peru and let loose during a Spirit Airlines flight that landed at LaGuardia Airport Tuesday afternoon.
Officials say the monkey, a pygmy marmoset, apparently belonged to a male passenger from Lima, Peru. He bought the animal off the streets in Lima.
The man then smuggled the animal, which measures only about a foot tall, through security in Peru onto a flight to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He then got past security again when he took a connecting flight from there to New York City, and he even kept the monkey out in the open mid-flight.
Passengers of that flight say they noticed a small monkey clinging to the man's ponytail during the flight and reported it to authorities.
Digg This Story!When the flight arrived at LaGuardia, Port Authority officials met the man at the plane's door and immediately took him into custody for questioning. Animal Control officials took possession of the marmoset.
The man apparently told officials he wasn't aware he couldn't bring the animal back with him.
Now there are two major concerns as a result: how the man got the monkey past security, and any diseases that could be passed on from the marmoset to humans.
"We don't know if it's harboring any bacteria or diseases, so the CDC is rightly concerned," an Animal Control official told CBS 2 HD.
Transportation Security Administration officials say the animal is so small it could have easily passed through security without detection, but they are investigating.
Witnesses worried of an outbreak that could result from the monkey being out in the open. "There may be worse things that could happen -- it could grow into one of those big ones," one passenger said.
The monkey is currently being held at the Marine Air Terminal at LaGuardia where it's being examined.
Stay with wcbstv.com and CBS 2 HD for more on this developing story.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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