More Fun Than a Barrel: Truckload of Monkeys Rolls Over

Next time, I'll arrange my own transportation
The headline calls up visions of monkeys amok. A truckload of monkeys rolls over on I-70 near Wheeling WV and PETA was absent at the accident scene. No monkeys were harmed in the production of this story. More from Shelley Hanson at the Wheeling Intelligencer:

Fifty-three monkeys and two people were involved in a two-vehicle accident Thursday on Interstate 70.

Virginia resident Kyle MacDougall, 24, was cited for not assuring a clear distance ahead after his vehicle struck a van while traveling east on I-70 near exit 213. The accident occurred about 6 p.m.

MacDougall was not injured, and the driver of the van was transported to Wheeling Hospital to be checked out, officials said. The monkeys were believed to be uninjured.

Just where was a truckload of monkeys headed to? Perhaps to a revival of the TV series, Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp. More from the scene:

The trailer MacDougall was towing with his pickup truck contained 53 monkeys, mainly African Green and Rhesus monkeys, said Penny Miller, director of the Oglebay Good Zoo.

Miller initially was called to the scene to help transport the monkeys to her zoo temporarily. However, the owner of the monkeys, whose name was not available at press time, decided to retrieve the animals himself. The owner had a three-hour trip, as he was in Pennsylvania, possibly in the city of Hazelton, said Ohio State Highway Patrol Sgt. Jim Tracy.

One immediately heads to stories like this: the prospect of constructing a clever headline beckons. Also, there's something about a truckload of monkeys that fires the imagination of anyone who's ever spent any time at the Monkey House at the zoo. If the truckload of monkeys rolls over you've got a scene from the next Austin Powers movie.

by Mondoreb
[image:nymag]



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