A Jasper County woman shot down one of the three wild Rhesus monkeys on Sunday morning that had been on the loose since last Tuesday.
The resident, Jessica Bond Ferguson, said her son woke her up just after 6 a.m., saying he believed a monkey was on their property. Ferguson said she grabbed her phone and a gun, then went outside, where she backed her vehicle up before shooting.
“I shot at it the first time and he didn’t move or anything,” Ferguson told a reporter. “He wasn’t scared of anything.”
She said she called the sheriff’s department to get the monkey.
The Jasper County Sheriff’s Department released a statement Sunday morning saying, “A homeowner on Hwy 503 near Heidelberg found one of the monkeys on their property this morning. The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks responded, and the monkey is now in their possession.”
The department offered no other details in the statement.
Bond Ferguson has five children, ranging in age from 4 to 16, and said she shot the monkey to protect them.
“I did what any other mother would do to protect her children,” she told The Associated Press. “If it attacked somebody’s kid, and I could have stopped it, that would be a lot on me. It’s kind of scary and dangerous that they are running around, and people have kids playing in their yards.”
According to reports, the monkeys had been housed at the Tulane University National Biomedical Research Center in Covington, La. The university provides primates to scientific research organizations. Tulane has stated that the monkeys do not belong to the university and were not being transported by the university.
As of printing, the only information regarding where the monkeys were being taken to has come from the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office, who said the primates were headed to Maryland, but no further information was available.
A truck carrying the monkeys ran into the median last Tuesday on Interstate 59 north of Heidelberg. Of the 21 monkeys in the truck, 18 were found at the scene, but five were put down at the scene after they roamed around loose from their broken crates. Three remained on the loose before Sunday.
Tulane University said the monkeys had recently received checkups confirming they were pathogen-free in a statement last week.
PreLabs, LLC, a company listed as located in Illinois, released a statement to WDAM confirming that a transport vehicle was transporting monkeys that they owned. In the statement, PreLabs said the monkeys “were being lawfully transported in compliance with all federal and state regulations to a licensed research facility.”
PreLabs also said the monkeys were not infected with COVID-19, hepatitis, or herpes as had been previously reported, adding, “This is documented by the supplier’s veterinary health certificate as well as confirmed by third-party testing and diagnostic services.”
PreLabs also said that recovery efforts are supported by trained animal control and wildlife specialists, and that the search is ongoing.
“PreLabs is working closely with authorities to ensure the safe recovery of the animals while remaining diligent regarding public safety,” PreLabs said. “We are cooperating with authorities and reviewing all safety procedures to ensure the continued well-being of both the animals and the community.”
A second monkey was confirmed to be found dead by the JCSD on Tuesday morning. There are unconfirmed reports that another citizen shot and killed the second monkey. This leaves just one monkey on the loose.