Forty-three monkeys escaped from a compound used for medical research in South Carolina, but the nearby police chief said there was “almost no danger” to the public.

“They are not infected with any disease. They’re harmless and a little nervous,” Yemassee Police Chief Gregory Alexander said Thursday morning.

Rhesus macaque primates escaped from Alpha Genesis Wednesday when a new employee failed to completely close an enclosure, Alexander said.

The monkeys are females weighing about 7 pounds (3 kilograms) and are so young and small that they were not used for testing, police said.

Alpha Genesis employees “currently have their eyes on the primates and are working to attract them with food,” police said in a statement released around noon Thursday.

The company usually handles escapes on site, but the monkeys got out of the enclosure about a mile from downtown Yemassee, Alexander said.

“The handlers know them well and can usually pick them up with fruit or a small treat,” Alexander told The Associated Press by telephone.

But collecting these escapees still requires work. Alpha Genesis is taking the lead, setting traps and using thermal cameras to capture fleeing monkeys, the chief said.

“There is almost no danger to the public,” Alexander said.

People living nearby should close their windows and doors so the monkeys don’t find a place to hide inside, and if they see the primates, call 911 so that company officials and the police can capture them.

Alpha Genesis supplies primates for research worldwide from its complex located about 50 miles northeast of Savannah, Georgia, according to its website. The company did not respond to an email requesting Wednesday’s escape.

In 2018, federal authorities fined Alpha Genesis $12,600 after dozens of primates escaped, as well as for an incident that left a few others without water and other issues related to how the primates monkeys were housed.

Officials said 26 primates escaped from the Yemassee center in 2014 and another 19 escaped in 2016.

The group Stop Animal Exploitation Now sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture asking the agency to immediately send an inspector to the Alpha Genesis facility, conduct a thorough investigation and treat them as repeat violators. The group was involved in the fine imposed on the company in 2018.

“The obvious negligence that allowed these 40 monkeys to escape not only endangered the safety of the animals, but also endangered the people of South Carolina,” wrote Michael Budkie, the group’s executive director, in the Thursday morning letter.