(Reuters) - After 43 monkeys escaped a research facility in a small South Carolina town, police on Thursday urged residents to lock their homes and avoid approaching the animals under any circumstances.

In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the Yemassee, South Carolina, police department said the young female rhesus macaques escaped Wednesday. Police in the town of about 2,000 were helping employees of the research center, Alpha Genesis, search for the escapees.

The police did not say how the monkeys escaped. Alpha Genesis did not respond to an email from Reuters or return a call.

The police said they had been informed by Alpha Genesis that the monkeys have never been used for testing and are too young to carry disease.



(Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova and Jonathan Allen. Editing by Donna Bryson and David Gregorio)