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\n Photo: Jasper County Sheriff\u2019s Department, Mississippi\/Facebook\n <\/p>\n
There\u2019s no easy way to say this, but there are some escaped research monkeys running around Mississippi right now. It\u2019s probably not a problem, but maybe it\u2019s something you want to be aware of. The monkeys escaped after a truck tipped over on the highway earlier this week, and some of their brethren were euthanized under the false belief that they were carrying a host of infectious diseases. Hoo boy! Here\u2019s what we know about the situation.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, a truck transporting 21 rhesus monkeys overturned on a Mississippi highway in Jasper County. A few of the monkeys, which were being transported from a research center connected to Tulane University, escaped from the truck about 85 miles southeast of Jackson. Speaking with the New York Times<\/a>, sheriff Randy Johnson said that the driver had fallen asleep at the wheel, leading to the crash.<\/p>\n Shortly after the accident, the sheriff\u2019s department shared on Facebook<\/a> that \u201cseveral monkeys are on the loose\u201d and that they \u201cpose potential health threats and are aggressive.\u201d In a follow-up post<\/a>, the sheriff\u2019s department said the monkeys \u201ccarry hepatitis C, herpes, and COVID\u201d \u2014 which later proved to be incorrect.<\/p>\n Contrary to what police initially shared, these were apparently perfectly healthy monkeys. A few hours after the department\u2019s first post labeled them \u201cpotential health threats,\u201d the sheriff\u2019s department warned that the monkeys were carrying diseases. In a post<\/a> that has since been edited several times, it said,\u00a0\u201cTulane University has been notified and will send a team to pick up the monkeys tomorrow. They advised if the monkeys leave the wreck site they need to be shot.\u201d That last sentence was later removed from the post.<\/p>\n In another edit to the post less than two hours later, the sheriff\u2019s office said that\u00a0\u201call but one\u201d of the escaped monkeys had been \u201cdestroyed.\u201d It later edited the post once again, now saying that there were actually three monkeys \u201cstill on the loose.\u201d It did not remove the part about the monkeys carrying disease.<\/p>\n That evening, Tulane issued a statement<\/a> saying that the monkeys are \u201cprovided to other research orgs to advance science\u201d and that the \u201cprimates in question belong to another entity & aren\u2019t infectious.\u201d In yet another post, the sheriff\u2019s office shared that statement to Facebook<\/a> and explained that it had only acted based on information received from the guy driving the truck.<\/p>\n \u201cThe driver of the truck told local law enforcement that the monkeys were dangerous and posed a threat to humans,\u201d it wrote. \u201cWe took the appropriate actions after being given that information from the person transporting the monkeys. He also stated that you had [to] wear PPE equipment to handle the monkeys.\u201d<\/p>\n Okay, so it seems like someone really messed up here. Would the sheriff\u2019s department care to apologize for euthanizing\u00a0five noninfectious monkeys? Not really. \u201cI hate it got to the point that it did,\u201d Johnson told the Times. \u201cWe were told they were highly infectious, dangerous to the public. We reacted on the information that we were given at the time.\u201d All right.<\/p>\n Not all of the monkeys escaped, and the majority of them apparently remained caged in the truck after the accident. Eight monkeys ran free and five were euthanized, so there are three still unaccounted for.<\/p>\n I like to think that someone\u2019s grandma is going to make them a big plate of chicken and dumplings and send them on their way. Realistically, they are going to be captured and returned to Tulane or the mystery entity.<\/p>\n Johnson reassured the Times that there are \u201cno intentions\u201d of euthanizing the three stragglers. Specialists from Tulane have been called in, and they plan to lure in the monkeys using traps with food. In the meantime, Mississippians should stay alert. If you see a weird-looking guy in a trench coat on the side of the road, it\u2019s highly likely that he\u2019s actually three monkeys trying to avoid getting sent back to the lab.<\/p>\n Stay in touch.<\/p>\n Get the Cut newsletter delivered daily<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n