Escaped Monkey from Overturned Truck Shot by Mississippi Mother of Five Concerned for Children's Safety

Monkeys Escape After Truck Accident During Transport
All But One Missing Monkey Shot and Killed

In the United States, a laboratory monkey that escaped after a truck carrying experimental monkeys overturned was shot and killed by a woman concerned for her children's safety. On November 3, Yonhap News, citing AP News, reported that Jessica Bond Ferguson, a resident of Heidelberg, Mississippi, shot and killed a monkey in her yard that morning.

Laboratory monkeys escaping from a crashed vehicle. Photo by Jasper County Sheriff's Office, Mississippi, USA on Facebook

Previously, on October 29, the Jasper County Sheriff's Office in Mississippi announced via social media that a truck carrying 21 rhesus monkeys had overturned on Highway 59 that afternoon, allowing the monkeys to escape. At the time, there were 21 monkeys in the truck, and it was determined that three had escaped. Authorities later stated that, except for one, all the escaped monkeys had died.

Immediately after the escape, the local sheriff’s office warned that the monkeys could be infected with hepatitis C or other diseases, and that contact with them could pose a risk. However, Tulane University countered this by stating that all the monkeys on the truck had recently been tested and found to be free of pathogens. The escaped monkeys were rhesus macaques, which are commonly used in medical research.

The whereabouts of one monkey remained unknown after the escape until Ferguson, after hearing her son say he thought he saw a monkey running in the yard, shot and killed it. Ferguson, a mother of five children, saw the monkey standing about 18 meters away and pulled the trigger. In an interview with local media after the incident, she explained, "I was warned about diseases the escaped monkeys could carry, so I shot it," adding, "I did what any other mother would do."