After a truck carrying research monkeys crashed in Mississippi, allowing some of the primates to escape, law enforcement in Jasper County confirmed that one of the monkeys was discovered by a homeowner on Sunday morning.
In a social media post, the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department said the monkey was discovered on a property on Highway 503 near Heidelberg. The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks responded and took the monkey into its possession. No other details were provided.
On the afternoon of Oct. 28, a truck carrying rhesus macaque monkeys going from Louisiana to Florida overturned on Interstate 59 near mile marker 117. The Jasper County Sheriff’s Department initially said that all but one of the escaped monkeys had been “destroyed” due to law enforcement’s understanding that the species was dangerous and carrying diseases.
Sheriff Randy Johnson later reported a miscount, saying a total of 21 monkeys were on the truck and eight had gotten loose. Deputies shot and killed five of the monkeys after the truck’s driver told them the monkeys posed a threat to humans, meaning three were at large. With Sunday’s discovery, two are believed to still be roaming the area.
Tulane University, where the monkeys were being housed at its National Biomedical Center in Covington, La., clarified that the monkeys are not carrying diseases and that the university did not own the monkeys or play a role in the transportation of them. The monkeys were being taken to a biomedical testing facility in Florida, according to the sheriff’s department.
“Nonhuman primates at the Tulane National Biomedical Center are provided to other research organizations to advance scientific discovery,” an Oct. 29 statement, in part, reads. “The nonhuman primates in question were not carrying any diseases and had received recent checkups confirming they were pathogen-free.
“Although Tulane did not transport or own the nonhuman primates at the time of the incident, we sent a team of animal care experts to assist in this tragic accident.”
It remains unclear who owns the monkeys, who was transporting them, and the exact facility they were being taken to.
In an unrelated incident last year, 43 rhesus monkeys escaped from a breeding facility in South Carolina. It took authorities two months to recapture them by tempting them with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
