Missing vervet monkey spotted in Ft. Lauderdale neighborhood may belong to Dania Beach sanctuary, experts say

A six-year-old girl got the surprise of a lifetime when a monkey wandered into her backyard and accepted a banana from her hand.

With her mother capturing the encounter on camera, Myah recently came face-to-face with the unexpected visitor in her Riverside Park neighborhood.

"It was amazing — the craziest thing ever," the smiling first-grader told CBS News Miami.

The curious primate has become the talk of the neighborhood, climbing trees, scampering along seawalls and feasting on mangoes as residents try to figure out where it came from.

Wildlife experts believe they may already know the answer.

"We think maybe someone trapped her, could not take care of her and then let her go," said Dr. Missy Williams, director and founder of the Dania Beach Monkey Sanctuary.

Williams believes the monkey may be Maddie, a female African vervet monkey that recently disappeared from the sanctuary's colony.

"Maddie is about 7 or 8, an adult female. She left the Dania Beach population, so it's a mystery why she left," Williams said.

The sanctuary, located near Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, cares for a colony of African vervet monkeys descended from animals linked to a roadside zoo and research facility that operated decades ago.

According to Williams, Maddie was first spotted near the Fort Lauderdale Beach Marriott, then at a cemetery in Rio Vista before making her way into central Fort Lauderdale neighborhoods.

Now, sanctuary staff are hoping to safely reunite Maddie with her family.

If residents spot the monkey, experts urge them not to try to capture her. Instead, they should contact the Dania Beach Monkey Sanctuary at Daniabeachvervetproject@gmail.com. 

For now, Myah is enjoying the memory of her unusual visitor — a wild encounter she says she will never forget.