Bond Ferguson said she and other residents had been warned about diseases that the escaped monkeys carried so she fired her gun.
“I did what any other mother would do to protect her children,” Bond Ferguson, who has five children ranging in age from 4 to 16, told The Associated Press.
The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks took possession of the monkey, the sheriff’s office said.
The sheriff’s department has said animal experts from Tulane examined the trailer and had determined three monkeys had escaped.
Rhesus monkeys typically weigh about 16 pounds (7.2 kilograms) and are among the most medically studied animals on the planet.
After a truck overturned on a Mississippi road last week, one of the escaped monkeys was shot and killed early Sunday by a woman who claims she was worried about her children’s safety.
Jessica Bond Ferguson said her 16-year-old son alerted her early on Sunday, claiming to have seen a monkey running in the yard outside their Heidelberg, Mississippi, home. She climbed out of bed, retrieved her phone and gun, and went outside when she spotted the monkey, which was about 60 feet (18 meters) away.
Bond Ferguson claimed that she shot the escaped monkeys because she and the other residents had been warned about the diseases they carried.
Bond Ferguson, who has five children ages four to sixteen, told The Associated Press, “I did what any other mother would do to protect her children.”. “I fired at it, but it just stood there. I fired again, and he retreated, which is how he fell.”. “.”.
While acknowledging on social media that a homeowner had discovered one of the monkeys on their property on Sunday morning, the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office stated that they were unable to provide any information. The monkey was seized by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, according to the sheriff’s office.
According to Tulane University, the Rhesus monkeys were kept at the Tulane University National Biomedical Research Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, which frequently supplies primates to scientific research institutions. Tulane said in a statement last week that the monkeys were not being transported by the university and did not belong to it.
On Tuesday, a truck transporting the primates flipped on Interstate 59, just north of Heidelberg. According to authorities, the majority of the 21 monkeys were killed. Tulane animal specialists inspected the trailer and concluded that three monkeys had escaped, according to the sheriff’s office.
The collision happened approximately 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Jackson, the state capital, and the Mississippi Highway Patrol reports it is looking into what caused it.
Usually weighing around 16 pounds (7.2 kg), rhesus monkeys are one of the most extensively researched animals in medicine worldwide. Video recorded after the crash showed monkeys crawling through tall grass beside the interstate, where wooden crates labeled “live animals” were crumpled and strewn about.
Despite early reports from the truck’s occupants warning that the monkeys were dangerous and harboring various diseases, Jasper County Sheriff Randy Johnson said Tulane officials informed him that the monkeys were not contagious. However, Johnson claimed that due to the monkeys’ aggressive nature, they still needed to be “neutralized.”.
Tulane said in a statement on Wednesday that the monkeys had recently undergone examinations that verified they were free of pathogens.
Three Rhesus macaques in the breeding colony of the former Tulane National Primate Research Center were put down approximately ten years ago due to a “biosecurity breach,” according to a 2015 report by federal inspectors. It stated that the breach occurred as a result of at least one employee disregarding infection control and biosafety protocols.
According to the U.S. report, the facility retrained employees and reviewed its processes. S. . Inspection Service for Plant and Animal Health.
The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks states that rhesus macaques “pronounce themselves as aggressive.”. It stated that they were searching for the animals in collaboration with sheriff’s officials and conservation staff from the agency.
