Prima(te) ballerina: a wandering monkey in a tutu leads the Missouri police in a joyful dance | Missouri

A monkey dressed in a pink tutu that slipped out of a Missouri home was captured just before a winter storm hit the state.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office called the primate’s arrest in a Facebook post “banana.”

The spider monkey was spotted Friday afternoon at the intersection of two highways near the town of Otto, just south of the St. Louis area. The monkey was staying in a nearby house when he managed to open a door and get out.

The sheriff’s office said the little monkey was returned to its caretaker after “careful negotiations and some coaxing.” Photos posted to the sheriff’s department’s Facebook page show a deputy kneeling on the ground before the tutu-clad monkey approached and grabbed his hands.

The sheriff’s office said it was a great example of how officers “must be prepared to handle whatever their job throws at them.”

The timing was fortuitous. A winter storm laden with snow and ice hit the region Saturday, closing roads and sending temperatures plummeting.