Oct. 28 (UPI) — A truck carrying lab monkeys crashed on a stretch of highway in rural Mississippi on Tuesday, with authorities still hunting for three of the escaped simians.
The incident began when a truck carrying rhesus monkeys crashed on a stretch of Interstate 59 outside of Heidelberg, according to a Facebook post by the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department.
The sheriff’s department warned the public not to approach the monkeys because of their aggression and potential health risk. But the sheriff’s department, in following updates, has given shifting explanations of where the monkeys came from, their threat to humans and how many remained on the loose.
In a subsequent update, the sheriff’s department stated that the monkeys were being transported from Tulane University, were about 40 pounds, aggressive and carried COVID-19 as well as sexually transmitted infections.
However, the most recent sheriff’s update included a statement from Tulane indicating that the monkeys “belong to another entity and are not infectious.” The university added that it was working with local authorities and planned to send a team of animal care experts to assist as needed.
“The driver of the truck told local law enforcement that the monkeys were dangerous and posed a threat to humans,” the sheriff’s department wrote in the latest post. “We took the the appropriate actions after being given that information from the person transporting the monkeys.”
A spokesperson for Tulane told the Clarion Ledger that the driver does not work for the university.
The sheriff’s office said there are three monkeys still on the loose after earlier saying that all but one of the of the monkeys had been destroyed. They revised the count after officials from Tulane arrived on the scene.
It’s not clear how many monkeys were on the truck. But Sheriff Randy Johnson told WAPT 16 that a total of 21 monkeys were on the truck, with six escaping and 15 remaining caged after the crash.
