Fearing for the safety of her children, a woman in Mississippi shot and killed one of the monkeys that escaped last week following a crash in Jasper County.
Early Sunday, Jessica Bond Ferguson said her 16-year-old son told her he thought he had seen a monkey running in the yard outside their home near Heidelberg, Mississippi. After getting out of bed and grabbing her firearm and cellphone, Ferguson went outside, where she stood just 60 feet from the primate.
Ferguson had previously been warned that three potentially diseased monkeys had escaped after the truck they were traveling in overturned roughly 75 miles east of Jackson. With the rhesus macaque in range, she fired a shot.
“I did what any other mother would do to protect her children,” Ferguson, who has five children, told the Associated Press. “I shot at it and it just stood there, and I shot again, and he backed up and that’s when he fell.”
The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that a homeowner had discovered one of the monkeys on their property over the weekend, but did not provide any details about the shooting. The sheriff’s office also said the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks took possession of the monkey.
Before going outside, Ferguson contacted the police and was asked to keep an eye on the monkey. However, she was concerned the potentially diseased primate would end up fleeing to another house, endangering other children in her neighborhood.
“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.”
The monkey was one of 21 others that had been traveling in the overturned truck. Over a dozen monkeys were found at the scene of the crash, with another five later being killed in the hunt. However, three ultimately remained at large over the weekend.
According to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, rhesus macaques are known for being aggressive. The agency continues to work with sheriff’s officials to locate the remaining monkeys.