Clearwater man created Facebook "mystery monkey" fan page

Bill McArdle was surfing social media sites on the Internet March 3 and listening to a TV news report about a renegade rhesus macaque long on the loose in the Bay area.

"This monkey was pretty popular talk in the news and on Facebook, so I checked to see if anyone had set up a profile for him," said McArdle, 46. "No one had, so I made one."

A few clicks later, the Mystery Monkey of Tampa Bay fan page was off and running.

As of Monday, the page had more than 58,000 fans.

Authorities don't know where the monkey came from, but some believe it could have gotten separated from a troupe of wild monkeys in a state park near Ocala. That's about 118 miles north of St. Petersburg, where it was last spotted March 21 swinging from a tree, falling into a pool and stealing grapefruits from Renee Barth's back yard.

Among the facetious likes McArdle lists under personal information on the monkey's fan page are "swinging through the trees, messin' with the po-po (police), flinging feces and screeching at the top of my lungs."

His snarky status updates during the past few weeks have attracted a troupe of fans that grew first by the hundreds each day, then by the thousands.

People from around the world interact with McArdle on the page as if he were, well, the monkey.

"If you're passing through Georgia, stop by," Terry Deushane recently posted to the page. "We will buy you a beer and a banana."

Becky Russell wrote, "We love u in Ohio, keep on trucking. Watch out for those crazy darts and speeding cars."

Things really took off after the page was mentioned on several national TV shows, including "The Colbert Report" and the "Today" show.

McArdle, who owns a video and Web site production company in Clearwater, said he is shocked by the popularity of the fan page, but he's having a good time with it.

"This is an absolute riot," McArdle said.

The surge in traffic drew the attention of Facebook administrators last week, who sent McArdle an e-mail asking him to authenticate the page and provide additional information.

"They sent me all this stuff I had to fill out, asking things like ... who's the official representative of this individual," he said. "I'm thinking, 'did you guys not look at this page? It's a monkey.'"

McArdle is trying to make the most of the fan page's success. He's selling Mystery Monkey T-shirts for $18 a pop and donating a portion of the proceeds to the Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbor.

"I'm not trying to get rich," he said. "There are costs involved, and I'm dedicating at least $5 from each shirt to the sanctuary."

If the elusive rhesus is caught, McArdle would like to see him - or her - take up residence at the nonprofit sanctuary.

"If he has to be captive, I know he'd be safe there and live in an open cage where people would love him and take care of him."

The man behind the monkey posts a quick status update every few days or so on Facebook, and on Twitter, where he has about 400 followers.

The posts often take jabs at the monkey's nemesis, wildlife trapper Vernon Yates, who has tracked it through three counties. Yates popped the monkey twice with tranquilizer darts, but both times the animal managed to shrug off the sedatives and escape.

Some of the most popular posts suggest that the monkey is hanging out at local events.

More than 400 fans had something to say Saturday in response to an update that read, "Spending my day enjoying my freedom up high, watching the St. Pete Grand Prix, talk about zoom-zoom. Hey, is that a tranquilizer dart in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?"

McArdle seems glad to put his quirky sense of humor to good use.

Linda Adams wrote on the fan page wall Saturday, thanking McArdle for the effort.

"My husband passed away Feb. 20," Adams wrote. "But we all need to have a little laughter in our life."

To McArdle, the response to his Mystery Monkey fan page is proof that the Internet connects the world, often in positive ways.

"Right now, the whole world could use a few laughs," he said.