Study predicts monkey population boom in Florida park

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – New research says a troop of roaming primates in north central Florida will nearly double in size if state wildlife managers don’t step in and stop the monkey business.

In a study released Monday in The Journal of Wildlife Management, researchers found that the number of rhesus macaques at Silver Springs State Park will grow to 350 animals or more by 2022. When the study was conducted in 2015, there were about 175 monkeys in the park.

The study will help the state decide what to do with the non-native species. In January, wildlife officials expressed a desire to curb or even eliminate the monkey population because of research that showed some of the animals in the park are carrying herpes B, which could spread to humans.