Woman shoots escaped monkey after truck crash in US, fearing disease
Kyiv • UNN
One of the monkeys that escaped after a truck overturned in Mississippi was shot by a woman. She feared for the safety of her children, as monkeys can be carriers of diseases.
One of the monkeys that escaped last week after a truck overturned on a highway in Mississippi, USA, was shot dead early Sunday morning by a woman who said she feared for the safety of her children, UNN reports with reference to AP.
Details
Jessica Bond Ferguson said that early Sunday morning, her 16-year-old son told her that he had seen a monkey running in the yard near their home near Heidelberg, Mississippi. She got out of bed, grabbed her gun and cell phone, went outside, and saw the monkey about 18 meters away.
Bond Ferguson said that she and other residents had been warned that the escaped monkeys were disease carriers, so she fired her gun.
"I did what any other mother would do to protect her children," Bond Ferguson, who has five children aged 4 to 16, told The Associated Press. "I shot it, and it just stood there, then I shot it again, and it backed up, and then it fell."
The Jasper County Sheriff's Office confirmed on social media that a homeowner found one of the monkeys on their property Sunday morning, but said the office had no details. The sheriff's office said the monkey was picked up by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks.
Before Bond Ferguson left her home, she called the police and was instructed to keep an eye on the monkey. But she was afraid that if the monkey escaped, it could attack children in another home.
"If it attacked someone's child, and I could have stopped it, it would be very difficult for me," said Bond Ferguson, a 35-year-old professional chef. "It's quite scary and dangerous that they're running around, and people have children playing in their yards."
Addition
The rhesus macaques were at the Tulane University National Primate Research Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, which, according to the university, regularly provides primates to research organizations. In a statement last week, Tulane University said the monkeys were not owned or transported by the university.
The truck carrying the monkeys overturned on Tuesday on Interstate 59 north of Heidelberg. According to Tulane University, of the 21 monkeys in the truck, 13 were found at the scene and sent to their destination last week. Five more were killed during the search, and three remained at large until Sunday.
Jasper County Sheriff Randy Johnson said that, according to Tulane authorities, the monkeys were not contagious, despite initial reports from truck passengers warning of danger and the transmission of various diseases. Nevertheless, Johnson said the monkeys still needed to be "neutralized" due to their aggressive nature.
The monkeys recently underwent an examination that confirmed the absence of pathogens, Tulane University said in a statement on Wednesday.
Addition
The incident occurred about a year after 43 rhesus macaques escaped from a facility in South Carolina where they are bred for medical research because an employee did not fully close an enclosure. Employees of the Alpha Genesis facility in Yemassee, South Carolina, set traps to catch them.