The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has charged the president of BC US with a second-degree misdemeanor for the escape of Class 2 wildlife.

In January, BC US, a company in Immokalee that breeds, quarantines, and sells monkeys for research and testing, imported 300 live macaque monkeys from Mauritius, off the coast of East Africa.

When staff transferred the monkeys from their shipping crates, they missed one. That monkey was left in its shipping crate and discarded into a biomedical waste container. It was discovered five days later, after the waste container had been moved to Miami. When the door was opened, the monkey escaped. The animal was returned to BC US in Immokalee and euthanized.

The charge against company president Mark Bushmitz carries a penalty of 60 days in jail and/or a fine of up to $500.

In February, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a critical citation to BC US for the monkey’s escape. The company also received a critical citation from the USDA in January when two monkeys at its Immokalee facility were found dead after staff left them in a room heated to 104 degrees overnight.

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