21 Monkeys Involved in Truck Overturn Incident in Mississippi

Summary:

HEIDELBERG, MS – Rhesus macaque monkeys being transported from a biomedical lab at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, escaped captivity Tuesday after the truck carrying them on Mississippi highway Interstate 59 overturned, according to law enforcement.

All but one of the escaped monkeys were killed, the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department said in a post on Facebook, warning that the monkeys were “aggressive.” It is not clear who was transporting the monkeys or where they were being taken. Video shows monkeys crawling through tall grass on the side of Interstate 59 just north of Heidelberg, Mississippi, with wooden crates labeled “live animals” crumpled and strewn about.

Tulane University said it is working with law enforcement. Mississippi Wildlife and Fisheries was also on site. The crash happened about 100 miles from the state capital of Jackson. It is not clear what caused the truck to overturn. While most of the 21 monkeys were killed during or shortly after the vehicle turnover, three monkeys escaped after the incident.

UPDATE: One of the monkeys that escaped last week after a truck overturned on a Mississippi roadway was shot and killed early Sunday by a woman who says she feared for the safety of her children.

Jessica Bond Ferguson said she was alerted early Sunday by her 16-year-old son who said he thought he had seen a monkey running in the yard outside their home near Heidelberg, Mississippi. She got out bed, grabbed her firearm and her cellphone and stepped outside where she saw the monkey about 60 feet away. Bond said she and other residents had been warned about diseases that the escaped monkeys carried so she fired her gun.

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