If there is a monkey roaming around the Meadowood neighbourhood, it's a shy one and conservation officers have called off their search.
On Tuesday, The NEWS broke the story of a monkey sighting in the Meadowood-Dashwood area. The story took on its own life from there after being posted to our pqbnews.com site as television stations, newspapers and internet sites throughout the world picked up and ran with the strange tale.
The Ministry of Environment investigated Sunday and Monday and were reporting Tuesday morning it had called off any search for the alleged wayward primate.
"At this time, the report is considered unsubstantiated," the ministry said in a news release Tuesday and that stance had not changed when ministry officials were contacted by The NEWS Wednesday afternoon.
"Officers have followed up with the Permit and Authorization Service Bureau (PASB) and local vets to determine if anyone possesses a primate in the area," the release continued. "There is no record of anyone possessing a monkey in any nearby area or community."
Oceanside RCMP responded to a call Sunday about the monkey, but closed the file after handing it over to the ministry.
The monkey has been the talk of the neighbourhood this week, and more than a few residents have been interviewed for TV news broadcasts.