A Capuchin monkey caused mischief for California police over the weekend when it dialed 911 - then hung up the phone.
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office took to Facebook to explain how their officers were dragged into monkey business by the cheeky primate, who they believe placed an emergency services call on Saturday (August 14) night.
In the Facebook post, they explained: "It all started Saturday night when we received a 911 call that had disconnected. Dispatchers tried to call and text back but they received no response. So Deputies were sent to investigate."
The address led police to the offices of Zoo to You, an animal conservation and education center based in Paso Robles. However, much to their confusion, they were told that nobody there had made the call.
Jokingly, the sheriff's office reflected: "Was someone trying to make us look like a monkey's uncle?"
However, realization soon dawned on staff, who concluded that the call must have been placed by their resident Capuchin, Route.
According to officers, Route snatched the zoo's cell phone out of the golf cart used by staff members to travel around their 40-acre site. The mischievous monkey then somehow managed to press the right buttons to summon emergency services to the site.
"We're told Capuchin monkeys are very inquisitive and will grab anything and everything and just start pushing buttons," the sheriff's office wrote, adding: "And that's what Route did... just so happened it was in the right combination of numbers to call us."
Luckily for the misbehaving money, it was clear from their Facebook post that police officers had seen the funny side of the situation.
As well as joking that they had been dragged into "monkey business", the sheriff's office shared a couple of adorable snaps of Route.
"As you can tell from these photos, Route is a little embarrassed by the whole thing," they wrote, adding: "But you can't really blame her, after all monkey see, monkey do."