Monkey seen on roof of Florida elementary school

A rhesus monkey is all the talk at a Lady Lake Elementary school these days.   While parents were waiting in the front of The Villages Elementary School of Lady Lake Tuesday to pick up their kids, some looked up and saw a monkey on the school roof.  Mom Megan Grubb was there to pick up her little brother and tells us, "My son in the backseat said, 'Oh, look!  What is that?'"  I said, 'It's a monkey and took a picture, because nobody believes there's a monkey at a school.  So then I took a picture and that was it."

Two pictures were snapped on her cell phone, and then, as quickly as it appeared she says, "It was on top of the roof, then jumped off, into a tree, across the parking lot, across the street...into the woods."  No one has seen the monkey since. 

But when Animal Control got the call, they had to ask:  A monkey on the school roof?  What do we do? Denise Williams with Lady Lake Animal Control says,  "The monkeys travel so fast that within a matter of a few seconds or minutes of being called in it left the school yard."  Williams says it's likely a wild monkey.

And the animal is not an easy one to trap, especially in front of a crowd.  Williams says she didn't get the call, but explains "If monkeys feel trapped or challenged they could try to attack somebody."  

Believe it or not, Williams says for her spotting a monkey in Florida isn't all that uncommon.  She says they were released in the Ocala National Forest back in the 1930s when they were brought here for a movie, and they have stayed, and their families have grown.  Williams says, "There are a couple that have been spotted in Lake County over the past several years. A couple have been seen on the Dora Canal and in Leesburg."

For Megan Grubb, who just moved to Central Florida from Germany, she says, "In Germany, we had jackrabbits. I'd rather see a monkey than a creepy jackrabbit!"

Williams says if you see one, just leave it alone and give it its space, and call Animal Control.