Lab monkeys from Tulane University have escaped an overturned truck north of the town of Heidelberg, Mississippi, marshalling a response from numerous law enforcement agencies. The site of the accident is around mile marker 117 on Interstate 59.
The Jasper County Sheriff’s Department asserted earlier this afternoon that the monkeys were infected with a variety of dangerous, human-communicable viruses, but that is false, says Mike Strecker, assistant vice president for news and media relations at Tulane University in New Orleans.
“Non-human primates at the Tulane National Biomedical Research Center are provided to other research organizations to advance scientific discovery. The primates in question belong to another entity and are not infectious,” Strecker said in a statement. “We are actively collaborating with local authorities and will send a team of animal care experts to assist as needed.”
Officials are advising residents to stay away from the area, and a dispatcher from the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office told the Mississippi Free Press on Tuesday afternoon that Tulane University has informed them the monkeys should be shot if they attempt to leave the crash site.
The dispatcher told this reporter that the “entire department” was surveying the crash site and that most of the monkeys remain contained in the truck, but that law enforcement spotted five monkeys outside containment, and that all of the monkeys may not be accounted for. Later, a dispatch supervisor confirmed that four of the missing monkeys had been shot.
The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office has strongly encouraged any residents in the area who personally encounter one of the escaped lab animals to avoid them at all costs and immediately call 911. Previously, representatives from the Sheriff’s Office asserted that the monkeys were infected with a variety of dangerous viruses, including COVID-19, herpes and hepatitis C, information that Tulane University has since said is categorically false.
“They told us they were aggressive to humans,” the dispatch supervisor told this reporter. A large team of first responders has blanketed the area to prevent the escape of any of the lab animals, including the Mississippi Highway Patrol, Mississippi Department of Transportation, Jasper County Sheriff’s Office, Heidelberg Police Department and Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.
Monkeys are a common research animal, as their genetic similarity to humans allows for the testing of various drug treatments and diseases. In an interview with the Mississippi Free Press, Strecker said he was informed with absolute certainty that the monkeys were not infected with any diseases.
“We provide research animals to others,” Strecker said. “ It was erroneous news that they had COVID and herpes and all that.”
At first, a team from Tulane University was expected to retrieve the escaped monkeys—which were en route to Florida before the accident—tomorrow. The dispatcher told this reporter that the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office does not have the requisite protective equipment to safely apprehend the escaped primates, meaning the crash site would need to be monitored through the night.
But the dispatch supervisor said that after the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks took over the scene, a retrieval team was assembled and was en route to the site immediately.
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