No monkey loose in downtown Charlottetown, police say

© Steve Bruce/CBC Some Charlottetown residents took to the streets with bananas Monday morning amid reports of a wayward monkey. The ‘sightings’ turned out to be a hoax.

P.E.I. social media accounts were abuzz Monday morning with images of a monkey roaming through downtown Charlottetown, but police say it was a hoax.

Social media posts showed what seemed to be a monkey trotting past the ticket booth of the parking lot behind the Polyclinic on Grafton Street.

There was also a video showing an animal perched in a dead tree outside the Veterans Affairs Canada headquarters in downtown Charlottetown.

But as one commenter pointed out, there are no dead trees outside the Veterans Affairs Canada headquarters.

After P.E.I. Humane Society reps and police officers spent a short while combing the area, police talked to one of the people posting the pictures.

© Danny Arsenault/CBC A video posted online seems to show the monkey sitting in a dead tree near the Veterans Affairs Canada building … but there is no dead tree at that spot.

“Confirmed with Charlottetown Police there is no monkey loose in Charlottetown,” CBC reporter Steve Bruce tweeted midmorning. “It was a prank that fooled a lot of people, including animal protection officers. It also increased banana sales in the downtown.”

Police described the affair as a publicity stunt. They did not say whether the local business involved would be charged.

During the rush of attention Monday morning, several people gathered in the area around Province House to see if they could spot the “monkey,” and at least two people on skateboards circled the zone with bananas looking for it.

According to the provincial government web page, primates may not be kept as pets on Prince Edward Island.