One of the monkeys that escaped after a truck overturned on a Mississippi roadway on 28 October was shot and killed early Sunday by a homeowner who said 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 of bed, grabbed her firearm and her cellphone, and stepped outside where she saw the monkey about 60 ft (18 meters) away.
Bond said she and other residents had been warned that the escaped monkeys were potentially diseased, so she fired her gun.
“I did what any other mother would do to protect her children,” Bond, who has five children ranging in age from four to 16, 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 in a social media post that a homeowner had found one of the monkeys on their property Sunday morning but said the office didn’t have any details. The Mississippi department of wildlife, Fisheries, and parks took possession of the monkey, the sheriff’s office said.