What any other mother would do to protect her children.’ Mississippi mother blasts escaped research monkey from 60 feet away

A Mississippi mother took swift, decisive action to protect her family, and this isn’t about protecting them from screens, but about real dangers. She shot and killed a research monkey that had escaped a transport truck crash the previous week and wandered onto her property near Heidelberg. This whole situation sounds absolutely terrifying, and you can’t blame Jessica Bond Ferguson for putting her children’s safety first when faced with an unknown, aggressive animal.

Ferguson, a 35-year-old professional chef and mother of five children ranging from ages four to sixteen, was alerted to the dangerous situation early Sunday morning by her 16-year-old son. He told her he thought he saw a monkey running right outside their home. She immediately got up, grabbed her firearm and her cell phone, and stepped outside. That’s when she spotted the Rhesus macaque about 60 feet away.

Before she pulled the trigger, Ferguson did the right thing and called the police. According to The Hill, she was told to keep an eye on the animal, but she explained later that she felt she couldn’t wait around. She worried that if the monkey got away, it would pose a serious threat to other kids in the neighborhood, which is a realistic fear. Monkeys are a lot more dangerous than you’d think, especially a scared one that just broke free from captivity.

A test monkey was shot and killed after an escape

“If it attacked somebody’s kid, and I could have stopped it, that would be a lot on me,” Ferguson said. She also mentioned that she and other residents had been warned that the escaped primates might be carrying diseases. This concern for both safety and potential health risks clearly drove her decision.

She fired her gun, but the monkey just stood there. She shot again, and that’s when the animal finally backed up and fell. It’s hard to imagine the fear she must have felt during that encounter. She later told The Associated Press, “I did what any other mother would do to protect her children.” It’s an incredibly stressful situation, but her reaction is completely understandable.

The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office later confirmed that a homeowner had indeed found one of the escaped monkeys on their property Sunday morning, though they didn’t offer many details right away. The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks took possession of the body after the incident.

This drama started last week when a truck carrying 21 Rhesus monkeys overturned on Interstate 59, just north of Heidelberg. This accident, which is currently being investigated by the Mississippi Highway Patrol, scattered the animals and their wooden crates, which were clearly labeled “live animals,” across the grassy area beside the interstate. It sounds like a total disaster.

These primates were not just random animals, though. They were being transported for scientific research organizations and had been housed at the Tulane University National Biomedical Research Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. Tulane was quick to issue a statement clarifying that they didn’t actually own the monkeys, nor were they the ones transporting them.

Of the 21 monkeys involved in the crash, 13 were located immediately and arrived at their destination last week. However, the search for the others was ongoing and difficult. Five more were killed during the initial hunt for them, leaving three still unaccounted for before Sunday’s incident.