A mother in Mississippi shot and killed the final missing monkey that escaped a semi truck after the rig crashed.
A semi truck hauling the monkeys being used for research crashed on October 28th near Heidelberg, Mississippi, allowing many of the monkeys to escape. The monkeys were determined to be aggressive, and were initially believed to be infected with diseases such as COVID and hepatitis. Tulane University, which was involved in the care of the monkeys, later clarified that the monkeys were aggressive, but were not infected with contagious diseases.
According to 7 ABC, five of the monkeys were shot after the crash, and 13 were transported to their original destination. Three monkeys remained missing until Sunday, November 2nd, when one appeared in the front yard of Jessica Bond Ferguson near Heidelberg.
Ferguson says that her son told her he saw a monkey run across their front yard, so she contacted police immediately and grabbed her firearm. When she stepped outside, she saw the missing monkey only 60 feet away, so she decided to shoot it due to safety concerns.
“I did what any other mother would do to protect her children,” Ferguson said. “I shot at it and it just stood there, and I shot again, and he backed up and that’s when he fell.”
The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks has since retrieved the monkey’s body.
“If it attacked somebody’s kid, and I could have stopped it, that would be a lot on me,” said Ferguson. “It’s kind of scary and dangerous that they are running around, and people have kids playing in their yards.”