Final escaped monkey captured: The last rhesus macaque that fled after a truck overturned on Interstate 59 on Oct. 28 was located near Vossburg and tranquilized after a resident reported it. Five monkeys died at the crash scene and two others were later shot by civilians who said they were protecting their neighborhoods. Tulane said the animals were housed at its primate center but were not being transported by the university; PreLabs said the transport was lawful and the animals carried no known diseases. The incident has prompted renewed questions about transparency in animal-research contracts.
Final Escaped Monkey Captured After Mississippi Highway Crash; Resident Report Leads to Tranquilization
Final escaped monkey captured: The last rhesus macaque that fled after a truck overturned on Interstate 59 on Oct. 28 was located near Vossburg and tranquilized after a resident reported it. Five monkeys died at the crash scene and two others were later shot by civilians who said they were protecting their neighborhoods. Tulane said the animals were housed at its primate center but were not being transported by the university; PreLabs said the transport was lawful and the animals carried no known diseases. The incident has prompted renewed questions about transparency in animal-research contracts.
01:00, 07.11.2025Society
Last escaped rhesus monkey captured after Interstate 59 crash
The final monkey that fled when a truck overturned on Interstate 59 in Mississippi on Oct. 28 was located and tranquilized after a nearby resident spotted the animal, authorities said Thursday.
The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks said the resident reported the monkey’s location and wildlife officers and transport staff successfully recovered the animal. The monkey was found Wednesday afternoon near a home in the Vossburg area, just east of the crash site.
Body-worn camera video from officers at the scene showed a chaotic scene immediately after the truck overturned: several rhesus monkeys escaped from wooden crates and ran across the grassy interstate median, with some darting toward passing cars and semis.
Five monkeys were killed at the scene during initial response efforts. Two others that eluded officers were later shot and killed by civilians, who said they acted to protect their families and neighborhoods. Officials had warned residents not to approach the animals, noting rhesus macaques can be aggressive.
Brandy Smith, a resident who reported the last monkey, told WDAM-TV she first noticed the animal when her dog began barking. Neighbors called 911 and workers from one of the companies involved in transporting the animals arrived and tranquilized the monkey.
The animals had been housed at Tulane University’s National Primate Research Center in Louisiana, which supplies primates to scientific research organizations. Tulane said the monkeys involved in the transport did not belong to the university and that it was not responsible for their transport.
PreLabs, a biomedical research support organization, said the monkeys were being lawfully transported to a licensed research facility and that they were not carrying any known diseases. According to Tulane, 13 monkeys that were not killed reached their intended destination last week.
Public reaction: The episode has renewed scrutiny of the animal-research industry, particularly the use of confidentiality clauses in contracts that can limit public knowledge about the transport and use of research animals.
Sources: Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks; WDAM-TV; Tulane University; Associated Press; PreLabs statement.