DANVILLE — Michelle Andino believes she spotted a monkey climbing a tree last Thursday, and no, she doesn’t think she’s going bananas.

“I’m certain that it was definitely a monkey,” insisted the 37-year-old Haverhill, Mass., woman whose recent sighting has stirred up memories of a monkey hunt in 2001 that had everyone buzzing.

Andino was visiting her parents at their residence on Cobblers Ridge when she saw the animal in the tree nearby. She was cooking salmon on the grill when a neighbor’s dog began “barking and going crazy,” she said.

Andino assumed the dog was probably barking at deer.

“We usually see deer in the yard so I thought we would see the family of deer that we typically see out there,” she said.

But what caught her eye was an animal at least two feet long with a “white bottom” and dark brown over the rest of its body. She doesn’t think it had a tail.

“It was really hugging the tree. It was climbing up like a human being,” she said.

Andino walked over to get a closer look, but kept her distance because she feared it would attack.

Her father, Felix Padilla, then came out to see what all the fuss was about. It was starting to get dark, so he brought his flashlight and aimed it at the tree where the animal was perched about 25 feet up.

Padilla said he didn’t get a good look because it was too dark at that point, but he could see an animal sitting in the tree.

“He was just waiting for us to get out of the way,” he said.

Andino immediately reported the sighting to police. Animal Control Officer Brian Farrell suggested last week it was probably more like a raccoon or a porcupine, but Andino said there’s no way it was either of those small animals commonly seen around these parts.

Andino said she wonders if someone had a pet monkey that got loose. That’s the same theory authorities proposed 11 years ago when residents reported seeing a capuchin monkey hanging out in orchards and backyards around town.

The Padillas moved to Danville eight years ago and neither they nor their daughter had ever heard about all of the monkey madness.

“I’m completely shocked that something was seen so many years ago and around the same time,” she said.

Kris Caldwell thought she’d heard the last of the monkey talk until the chatter picked up again inside Mayo’s Market last weekend.

“I just laughed. As far as I know there’s no circus in town,” joked Caldwell, who works at the market and heard people talking about the sighting.

Caldwell worked at the local convenience store in 2001 when efforts to trap the monkey failed and few thought it would survive a chilly New England winter.

Farrell said Andino is the only one to report a monkey sighting. A neighbor said he has heard about a bear in the neighborhood, but no monkeys.

Andino and her parents will be keeping an eye out for the animal in the future.

“We’re definitely on the lookout because this is just absurd,” she said.

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Jason Schreiber may be reached at jschreiber@newstote.com.