In Mississippi, a monkey that had escaped following a truck accident was shot and killed by a homeowner who was concerned for her children’s safety. Jessica Bond Ferguson, a resident near Heidelberg, described how she responded to her son’s sighting of the monkey in their yard early Sunday. Bond, aware of the potential diseases the monkeys carried, took action to protect her family by firing her gun.
The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the incident, stating that the monkey was discovered on the homeowner’s property and later taken into possession by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks. The truck, which overturned on Interstate 59, was transporting the monkeys from the Tulane University National Biomedical Research Center in New Orleans to an undisclosed location. The accident resulted in the deaths of most of the monkeys, with three monkeys reported as having escaped.
Authorities are investigating the cause of the crash, which occurred north of Heidelberg. Despite initial concerns about the monkeys’ infectious nature, Tulane officials stated that the monkeys were free of pathogens. Sheriff Randy Johnson emphasized the need to “neutralize” the monkeys due to their potentially aggressive behavior.
Rhesus macaques, weighing around seven kilograms, are extensively studied animals in medical research. The search for the escaped monkeys involved collaboration between conservation workers and sheriff’s officials. This incident echoes a previous escape in South Carolina, where 43 Rhesus macaques fled due to a lapse in enclosure security at a research facility.