A Mississippi woman shot and killed an escaped monkey because she feared for her children’s safety.
Jessica Bond Ferguson shot the monkey after seeing it about 60 feet away from her residence, according to Advance Local. She reported that her 16-year-old son thought he saw a monkey in their yard, so she grabbed a firearm she owned and fired on the monkey because of a warning that they carried diseases.
“I did what any other mother would do to protect her children,” said Ferguson. “I shot at it and it just stood there, and I shot again, and he backed up and that’s when he fell.”
Though Ferguson called the police about the monkey and was told to keep an eye on it before she walked outside to confront it, she said she was worried that the animal would threaten another family’s children if left alone.
“If it attacked somebody’s kid, and I could have stopped it, that would be a lot on me,” said Ferguson. “It’s kind of scary and dangerous that they are running around, and people have kids playing in their yards.”
On Oct. 26, a truck that was transporting Rhesus monkeys overturned in Jasper County, Mississippi. Of the 21 monkeys that were on the truck, 13 were discovered at the scene of the accident and were able to arrive at their original destination.
There were five monkeys killed in the hunt to find them, and three remained loose until Nov. 2, when the monkey that Ferguson shot was killed.
Rhesus monkeys are some of the most medically studied animals on the planet. Jasper County Sheriff Randy Johnson announced that the monkeys, which were originally reported to be harboring diseases, were not infectious — but still needed to be “neutralized” due to their aggressive nature.
