One of the monkeys that escaped last week after a truck overturned on a Mississippi highway was shot and killed on Sunday by a home owner who said he feared for the safety of his children.
Jessica Bond Ferguson said she warned when she was 16 on Sunday and said she thought she had seen a monkey walking in a yard near Heidelberg, and caught it.
The official said that he and other residents had been warned about the diseases carried by the surviving monkeys so he fired his gun.
“I did what any other mother would do to protect her children,” the bond, which has five children from four to 16 years old, told related media. “I shot and suddenly it was there, I groaned again, and he came back again when he fell.”
The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office confirmed in a social media post that a homeowner found one of the monkeys on their property Sunday morning but said the office had no details. The Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks euthanized the monkey, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Mississippi authorities have not identified the company involved in transporting the monkeys, where the monkeys are being watched or who they are.
The rhesus monkeys are housed at the Tule University National Research Center in New Orleans, La., which provides special supplies to scientific research organizations, according to the University. In a statement, Tulane University said that the monkeys did not belong to the university, and were not transported by the university.
A truck carrying monkeys overturned Tuesday on Interstate 59 North of Heidelberg. Authorities say most of the 21 monkeys were killed. The Sheriff’s Department said Tulane veterinarians examined the trailer and identified three monkeys that had escaped.
The Mississippi Highway Patrol said it is investigating the cause of the accident, which occurred about 160 kilometers from the state capital, Jackson.
Monkeys need to be ‘neutral,’ the Sheriff said
Rhesus monkeys usually weigh seven kilograms and are among the most medically studied animals in the world. Video recorded after the crash showed the monkeys crawling along the tall grass on the side of the interstate, where wooden crates labeled “live animals” were smashed and dismembered.
Jasper County Sheriff Randy Johnson said Tulane officials reported that the monkeys were not infected, despite initial reports of a truckload of dangerous people harboring various diseases. Even so, Johnson said monkeys still need to be “neutralized” because of their aggressive nature.
The monkeys recently received tests to confirm that they are pathogen-free, Tulane said in a statement on Wednesday.
About 10 years ago, rhesus rhesus macaques in the breeding colony of what was known at the time, by the Tulane National Frimate research center after “biosecurity providers wrote in a 2015 report. Violations include at least one member of staff who failed to follow infection control procedures, it said.
The agency made changes to its procedures and recalled employees after that incident, according to a report from the US Animal and Health Inspection Service.
The Rhesus Macaque is “known to be aggressive,” according to the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. Conversing Conservation said staff were working with Sheriff’s officials to search for the animals.
The search comes one year after the escape of 43 Rhesus Macaques from Complectorina in South Carolina that were breeding for medical research because the worker could not fully lock the enclosure. Staff from Alpha Genesise Dication in Yemassee, SC, set up traps to get caught.
