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A group of potentially infected lab monkeys escaped after a vehicle crash on a main interstate highway in Mississippi, the United States. As per The Guardian, citing the Jasper County Sheriff’s department, the monkeys, which came from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, were contaminated with multiple viruses, including hepatitis C and Covid-19, posing a potential health danger to the locals. The truck was carrying 21 Rhesus monkeys, out of which three of them remained on the loose, leaving authorities scrambling to track them down. But now, one of the three escaped infected monkeys has been shot down by a local resident. US Woman Shoots Infected Monkey According to CNN, one of the monkeys that escaped after the accident was shot and killed early Sunday by a woman, Jessica Bond Ferguson, claiming that she was concerned about the safety of her children. She said her 16-year-old son informed her early Sunday, claiming he saw a monkey running in the garden outside their home near Heidelberg, Mississippi. She got out of bed, grabbed her weapon and phone, and stepped outdoors, where she spotted the monkey approximately 60 feet away. Furthermore, Ferguson claimed that she and other locals had been told that the escaped monkeys were carrying diseases; therefore, she shot her rifle. “I did what any other mother would do to protect her children,” Ferguson, who has five children ages four to sixteen, 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.” What Did The Officials Say? The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office verified in a social media post that a resident discovered one of the monkeys on their property Sunday morning, but provided no other information. According to the sheriff’s office, the monkey was taken into custody by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. Ferguson called the police before Bond left and was told to keep a watch on the monkey. However, she expressed concern that if the monkey escaped, it could harm children in another residence. “If it attacked someone’s child and I could have stopped it, that would be entirely on me,” said Ferguson. “It’s kind of scary and dangerous that they are running around, and people have kids playing in their yards.” What Happened With The Monkeys? As per CNN, the Rhesus monkeys were held at Tulane University National Biomedical Research Centre in New Orleans, Louisiana, which regularly supplies primates to scientific research organisations, according to the institution. Tulane, last week, said that the monkeys do not belong to the institution and are not being moved by the university. According to Tulane, 13 of the 21 monkeys in the truck were discovered at the scene of the accident and returned to their original destination last week. Another five were killed in the hunt for them, and three remained on loose before Sunday.
