EUTAWVILLE — Most monkeys like bananas. Ava prefers a hot cup of coffee.
The pet spider monkey escaped her owner and roamed free in Orangeburg County for a day last week before being captured by a quick-thinking town clerk.
Casey Hill was originally focused on fishing when she awoke Oct. 4 and headed over to help at the Eutawville Crappie Classic and Fall Fest.
But after hearing rumors of a monkey on the loose, Eutawville’s town clerk formed a posse and decided to try her luck at catching a primate instead.
Traveling with Mayor Brandon Weatherford and his wife Laura, Hill headed first to The Twirl restaurant where the escaped primate was last seen. They quickly spotted the spider monkey nearby and noticed a leash dangling from her body.
“Sure enough, she was hanging on the back of a vehicle by the barbershop,” said Hill, who began stopping traffic in an effort to keep the monkey safe.
Having already stopped at a restaurant and the barber, the spider monkey next ran to the First National Bank of South Carolina, as if it were running Saturday morning errands and taking care of monkey business, albeit very noisily.
“She was hollering,” said Hill. “You could tell she was scared.”
Despite the screeching, Hill didn’t panic. Instinctively, she placed the cup of coffee she was holding on the ground, peeled off the lid, and took a step back.
The escaped monkey became intrigued by the hot, steaming, caffeinated bait — call it a Cup of Mo’ (nkey).
As the spider monkey bent down and sipped the coffee, Hill stepped on her leash, which she said prompted even more “screaming and jumping around.”
At this point the spider monkey was claimed by its owner, an unidentified woman who identified the pet as Ava.
Spider monkeys, which are not native to South Carolina, normally live in forests in Central and South America where they use their long arms to “gracefully move through the canopy,” said Lisa Jones-Engel, a senior science advisor for the animal welfare group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
These monkeys possess a prehensile tail with a gripping pad that is, like human fingerprints, unique to each animal.
Unlike most primates, spider monkeys don’t have thumbs. Instead they rely on their exceptionally long fingers to grip tree branches and swing through the forest.
Spider monkeys mostly eat fruit and sometimes forage by day in small groups led by females.
“They are gentle, beautiful, social monkeys that belong in their complex, natural ecosystems, living with members of their own species, foraging and eating foods that they have evolved to consume,” said Jones-Engel.
About 15,000 primates are privately owned nationwide, according to Born Free USA, though no estimates are available for South Carolina, which requires the registration of great apes but not other primates. A bill filed in the 2025 S.C. legislative session would require all pet primates in the state to be registered.
South Carolina is home to several research facilities that contain primates, including the Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center in Yemassee where 43 rhesus macaque monkeys escaped in November 2024. A few months earlier, a Japanese macaque went on the run in Colleton County but was ultimately found dead.
Even without Ava scampering about town, interesting animals abound in Eutawville (pop. 241). A leashed pet opossum named Booty is a regular at town festivals, said Hill, the town clerk. Lately, a black bear has been seen at Twirls, too, digging through the restaurant’s dumpster.