Laboratory monkeys that were in a truck on a highway in Mississippi in the United States managed to escape during an accident on Tuesday, October 28, reports the Associated Press.
When the truck overturned, several monkeys, whose exact number is unknown, managed to escape. These rhesus macaques came from the National Biomedical Research Center at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. This species is generally used for research, particularly for medical purposes.
Several monkeys already killed
In a Facebook post, the Jasper Sheriff’s Office initially said they were aggressive and required special equipment to handle them because they carried diseases.
This information was ultimately denied by Tulane University. “They were not exposed to any infectious agents,” he said in a statement, according to the AP. For its part, the sheriff’s office added that it was the trucker himself who told them that they needed protection to approach them.
Almost all of the escaped monkeys were killed, according to the police, who according to the latest information still mention three monkeys on the loose.
Already in November 2024, 63 monkeys of the same species escaped from a research laboratory in South Carolina, United States. These monkeys, described as fearful, had fled their enclosure when an employee forgot to close the door.
Source: BFM TV
