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A second monkey that escaped from a transport truck last week was fatally shot along a Mississippi highway early Tuesday morning as authorities warned that one more primate is still at large.
A truck carrying 21 rhesus monkeys overturned in a ditch near Heidelberg, Miss. on Oct. 28. The truck was wrecked and several loose primates were able to escape through a hole in the back door.
Five were seized and euthanized near the crash site, but three disappeared into the Mississippi valleys, authorities said.
On Tuesday, Jasper County Sheriff Randy Johnson confirmed that a second monkey was shot and killed by a civilian who spotted it crossing a highway.
The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks also confirmed that the monkey was “recovered deceased” and that one more primate was still unaccounted for.
The first of the three at-large monkeys was shot and killed by a mother of three in Heidelberg on Sunday while it perched on the stoop of a home surrounded by overgrown shrubbery.
“If it attacked somebody’s kid, and I could have stopped it, that would be a lot on me,” the 35-year-old mother said.
“It’s kind of scary and dangerous that they are running around, and people have kids playing in their yards.”
The troop of rhesus monkeys were affiliated with the National Biomedical Research Center in New Orleans and frequently “provided to other research organizations to advance scientific discovery,” according to a statement from Tulane University.
The Jasper County Sheriff’s Department had originally warned locals that the monkeys were all infected with COVID, hepatitis C, and herpes, which was later proven to be false.
Still, authorities advised anyone who sees the monkeys to keep their distance because they were “aggressive.”
Rhesus monkeys are known to exhibit hostile behavior specifically when in captivity, according to the National Library of Medicine.
PreLabs, a biomedical research support organization that said it owned the monkeys in the crash, recommended that the public stay away from the surviving primates since they are likely frightened and disoriented.
Rhesus monkeys are frequently preferred as subjects for scientific research because of their stable population base and similarities in their genomes to those of humans.
The 13 monkeys that survived the crash were safely delivered to their intended destination last week, according to a statement from Tulane, which also stressed that the school was not responsible for the transport.
The Mississippi Highway Patrol is still investigating the bizarre crash.
With Post wires.
English (US)