Diane Charlton was out on her morning walk when she says a monkey, of all things, caught her eye Tuesday morning on Main Street in Tewksbury, Massachusetts.
"We saw a monkey, just sitting," said Charlton. "I froze, I wanted to take a picture so bad, I froze."
She managed to snap one photo before the monkey took off.
Coincidentally, the spot where she saw the monkey was alongside property owned by the Shawsheen Animal Hospital. But it's not theirs — they don't handle exotic pets.
"It does look like a monkey, actually," Dr. Michele Caruso, co-owner of the animal hospital, said of the picture.
Caruso has no idea where it could have come from.
"No monkeys here in the wild, and they're not legal to have as pets in Massachusetts," Caruso said.
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The monkey was spotted again Wednesday morning — this time by Charlton's son in their backyard on Michael Road.
The family is wondering if the monkey may have followed Charlton home.
"I got scared," said Justin Charlton. "He got scared, he ran off, I ran off."
Tewksbury Animal Control has now set up a trap on the family's property that includes a crate, a blanket and fruit.
Police and animal control looked for the monkey, even putting up a drone.
Monkeys can carry diseases like Herpes B, so people are urged not to approach it.
