One monkey that fled following a truck accident in Mississippi was shot and killed by a homeowner on Sunday due to safety concerns for her children. Jessica Bond Ferguson, a resident near Heidelberg, MS, responded to her son’s alert about a monkey in their yard, firing her gun when she saw it. Bond, a mother of five, explained she acted to safeguard her children from potential diseases carried by the escaped monkeys.
The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the incident, noting the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks took custody of the monkey. Authorities did not disclose details about the monkey’s origins or the transporting company involved.
The Rhesus monkeys were previously housed at the Tulane University National Biomedical Research Center in New Orleans but were not university property. The truck carrying the monkeys overturned on Interstate 59, resulting in the escape of three monkeys. Most of the monkeys perished in the accident, with officials investigating the cause of the crash.
Sheriff Randy Johnson emphasized the need to “neutralize” the monkeys due to their aggressive nature, despite reports indicating they were not infectious. Tulane University confirmed the monkeys had received recent pathogen-free checkups.
In a past incident, three Rhesus macaques were euthanized following a biosafety breach at the Tulane National Primate Research Center. The facility made procedural changes and retrained staff in response.
The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks highlighted the aggressive nature of Rhesus macaques, collaborating with sheriff’s officials to locate the escaped animals. The search effort echoes a similar incident in South Carolina, where 43 Rhesus macaques fled a breeding compound due to an employee oversight. Traps were set to recapture the escaped monkeys.
