Mississippi Mother Explains Her Decision To Eliminate Escaped Monkey

A Mississippi mother is being praised by many in her community after she took quick action to protect her children from one of several escaped monkeys that had been roaming her neighborhood for days. Jessica Bond Ferguson, a 35-year-old mother of five, said she didn’t hesitate to grab her gun and respond after her teenage son came running into the house, saying he had just seen a monkey in their yard.

The incident happened in Heidelberg early Sunday morning, just a few days after a truck carrying 21 rhesus monkeys overturned on Interstate 59. Since then, residents had been living with the uneasy knowledge that several monkeys were on the loose. Initial reports claimed the monkeys might be carrying infectious diseases, but officials later confirmed they were not. Still, with a house full of children ranging in age from 4 to 16, Bond Ferguson wasn’t about to take any chances.

She said her 16-year-old son ran inside, panicked, after spotting the animal near their property. That’s when she jumped into action, calling the police and heading outside with her phone in one hand and a firearm in the other. Roughly 60 feet from her home, she spotted the monkey. According to her account, she fired a warning shot, but the monkey didn’t move. She shot again, and the animal fell.

“I did what any other mother would do to protect her children,” Bond Ferguson told the Associated Press. She explained that with police and animal control still not on the scene, she was afraid the monkey might escape and pose a risk to someone else’s kids nearby. “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 confirmed on social media that a homeowner had reported encountering one of the monkeys on Sunday morning, but did not offer further details. Officials from the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks took custody of the animal after the incident.

The monkey shooting came days after a truck transporting 21 rhesus monkeys crashed near Heidelberg on October 27. The monkeys were being transported in wooden crates, which spilled open in the crash. Video from the scene showed the primates darting through tall grass near the highway. Out of the original 21, 13 were recovered at the crash site and transported safely. Five reportedly died during the search, and three had remained unaccounted for until Sunday.