Trapper using monkey to lure, catch Tampa Bay's 'Mystery Monkey'

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (AP) - An animal trapper is using a male monkey to try to catch a wild monkey in St. Petersburg that has been on the lam for two years.

Vernon Yates is a trapper hired by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservative Commission to catch the monkey. He tells the Tampa Bay Times he plans to use the new strategy this week to catch the rhesus macaque that bit a woman earlier this month.

Instead of luring the rhesus macaque with a female, Yates is using Doc, a 1-year-old male that will sit inside a custom-designed trap and snack on fruit. The goal is to entice the mystery monkey with companionship and food.

Yates says he has used the same method on roosters and chickens before, but never on monkeys.