A truck hauling monkeys from Tulane University in New Orleans flipped on a Mississippi highway, freeing several large, “aggressive” monkeys.
After the wreck, which happened north of Heidelberg, multiple rhesus monkeys escaped into the community, according to the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office.
“The monkeys are approximately 40lbs, they are aggressive to humans, and they require PPE [personal protective equipment] to handle,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a Facebook post.
The animals carry hepatitis C, herpes and COVID, deputies said.
As of 4:30 p.m. ET, all but one of the escaped monkeys were “destroyed,” according to deputies.
“We are continuing to look for the one monkey that is still on the loose,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a Facebook post. “Do not approach the monkeys if you see one. Call 911.”
Tulane University told Fox News Digital the Tulane National Biomedical Research Center provides its nonhuman primates to other research organizations to advance scientific discovery.
“The primates in question belong to another entity and are not infectious,” the university said. “We are actively collaborating with local authorities and will send a team of animal care experts to assist as needed.”
School officials did not confirm the number of monkeys that escaped, the number of monkeys killed or the number of monkeys that remain caged.
Officials said they have been in contact with an animal disposal company to “help handle the situation.”
The sheriff’s office responded to a Facebook comment from a concerned citizen asking if the post was a joke.
“Unfortunately not,” the sheriff’s office replied.
Mississippi Wildlife and Fisheries responded along with local law enforcement.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo told Fox News Digital, “terrified monkeys running for their lives into unprotected, populated areas is exactly the spark that could ignite the next pandemic.”
“Monkeys can carry diseases transmissible to humans, including tuberculosis, and Tulane National Primate Research Center, where these monkeys were trucked from, has had disease outbreaks of pathogens deadly to humans in its monkey colony,” Guillermo wrote in a statement to Fox News Digital. “This is the risk the greedy monkey experimentation industry has chosen for the public, so they can line their pockets while these sensitive monkeys crisscross American highways in unmarked trucks.”
She added the situation was also a tragedy for the monkeys, “whose only moments of freedom before death were the result of a truck crash.”
“The importation and use of monkeys in laboratory experiments is emptying the world’s forests while putting Americans at great risk, and it must end now,” Guillermo wrote.
The sheriff’s office told Fox News Digital it will continue to provide updates.
