On Monday, the Spokane Regional Health District euthanized Chico, a pet monkey that escaped from its owner’s South Hill home and bit three people last week.

With the help of a local veterinarian, health districts officials euthanized Chico. The decision was taken after they rejected an offer to have the three people bitten by the monkey to be treated for possible exposure to rabies.

"They're more like humans as far as harboring it, they can harbor the virus in their bodies for several years and then come down with the disease, so there's only one foolproof way of protecting those people that were bitten," Doctor Larry Jecha, acting director of the Spokane County District who signed Chico’s death warrant Sunday afternoon, said.

The order was highly rejected by a doctor in Texas who offered to pay for expensive rabies shots for the three victims bitten by Chico. Dr. Ned Buyukmichi, resident doctor at Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary in southwest Texas, said that there was no medical basis for the decision to euthanize Chico, as the animal did not show any sign of neurological disease, the only reason for which it could be send to death. Dr. Buyukmichi was not the only one who was in favor of Cici, but that was not helpful.

Tests on the head of Chico today at the Washington State Public Health Laboratories in Shoreline showed that the small macaque did not have rabies, the Spokane Regional Health District said today, according to the Seattle Times.

Following the negative results, the three people bitten by the monkey will not have to undergo a preventive series of rabies vaccinations.