The Mississippi monkey saga has taken a troubling new turn when a mother was forced to take action to protect her children.
Jessica Bond Ferguson, a mother of five from Heidelberg, Mississippi, was forced to use her weapon early Sunday after her 16-year-old son spotted a monkey roaming their yard. The monkey was one of several that fled after a truck transporting 21 Rhesus macaques overturned on Interstate 59 last week.
Ferguson, a 35-year-old chef, said she was told the monkeys could be dangerous. She called the police but decided to act when the monkey appeared to be lingering.
“I did what any other mother would do to protect her children,” she told the Associated Press.
She fired two shots. The second one brought the animal down.
Before pulling the trigger, Ferguson says she feared the monkey might move on to another yard full of children.
“If it attacked somebody’s kid, and I could have stopped it, that would be a lot on me,” she said.
The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office later confirmed the animal was recovered and taken by wildlife authorities. The monkey was among three still unaccounted for after the crash. Five had already been killed during recovery efforts, while 13 made it to their destination.
Although Tulane University clarified the monkeys weren’t theirs, they confirmed the animals had recently undergone health checks and were disease-free. Still, wildlife officials say Rhesus macaques are known to be aggressive and unpredictable.
The investigation into the crash continues.
