George Barnett’s work as a small-town pastor means folks probably won’t challenge him when he tells of the day he picked up a hunting rifle and took aim at an escaped rhesus monkey in rural Mississippi.
What started as a routine visit to his mom’s house in Vossburg on Monday is now the latest chapter in the not-so-tall tale that captivated much of the state, after a transport of research primates overturned in Jasper County just before Halloween.
Barnett’s wife spotted the runaway monkey as a blur of fur crossing near a highway exit ramp late Monday afternoon. Once in the woods, it scampered into a tree and flashed its teeth. Barnett, 45, grabbed his rifle and fired twice, he said, sending the animal crashing to the ground.
“As soon as I saw it, the only thing I thought about was, ‘What if this thing attacks one of those people that I grew up with, or my children?’” Barnett said.
The monkey was one of three escapees from last week’s accident, when a truck crashed while carrying 21 primates from the Tulane National Biomedical Research Center near New Orleans.
Barnett was the second Mississippi resident to take the monkey business into their own hands. On Sunday, Jessica Bond Ferguson opened fire after her 16-year-old son saw a monkey outside their home near Heidelberg, killing the animal.
“I did what any other mother would do to protect her children,” she told The Associated Press.
That leaves one runaway still missing, according to the state Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, which warned that it may be aggressive.
Residents’ fears were partly driven by incorrect information that circulated just after the crash, when the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office warned that the monkeys carried diseases, including Covid, hepatitis C and herpes, based on information gathered at the scene. Authorities killed five of the monkeys near the crash scene based on those concerns, which turned out to be false, Jasper County Sheriff Randy Johnson said.
He confirmed the latest monkey shooting on Monday.
Tulane clarified after the crash that the monkeys “had not been exposed to any infectious agents” and sent a team to assist. Thirteen of the monkeys reached their planned destination last week, according to the university. Animals rights organizations, like PETA, said the accident highlighted the plight of animals used in research and called for more transparency, including the release of the monkeys’ veterinary records.
On Monday, PreLabs, a biomedical research company, said the monkeys were theirs.
“We are cooperating with authorities and reviewing all safety procedures to ensure the continued wellbeing of both the animals and the community,” the statement said.
The company did not respond to questions from NBC News.
Kristen Moore, director of wildlife for the Hattiesburg Zoo, said she understands the worries, but she hopes the public will heed officials’ advice to stay clear of the last monkey. The primates, native to Asia, generally prefer running away over attacking.
And for those wondering, they’re typically herbivores. So, pets should be OK.
“If you have a cat, they’re not going to chase that,” she said.
Barnett initially thought his wife, Kerri, was joking when she pointed out the furry creature running across the road shortly after 4 p.m. Monday. They had just taken the exit to his mother’s house, with their two young sons in the car.
“Babe, there’s one of those monkeys,” he recalled Kerri saying.
She was right.
“This monkey was just walking across the street,” Barnett said. “Almost like he owned the neighborhood.”
One day earlier, Barnett was getting ready for church when he heard about Ferguson’s story.
Now, he was dialing 911 to report his own sighting in Vossburg, about 100 miles east of the state’s capital.
“We just saw one of the monkeys right off Exit 118,” he told the dispatcher, according to a recording obtained by NBC News. “It’s sitting on the side of the road right off the exit.”
Barnett’s 7- and 8-year-old boys in the backseat became hysterical. Normally they love playing outside at their grandmother’s, but they’d been staying indoors the past few days while the primates were on the loose.
Barnett dropped his children off at his mom’s, grabbed a rifle and headed back.
He walked into the woods, where the monkey had taken refuge in a tree.
An experienced squirrel and deer hunter, he estimates the animal was 35 to 40 pounds. (Generally, the monkeys are 17 to 20 pounds, Moore said.) After he took two shots, the monkey dropped to the ground and took off, he said. Barnett didn’t chase after it.
Two men in a white truck who Barnett believes were with a transport company soon arrived. They tried to track the monkey based on a trail of blood, then got an assist from a drone that could detect the animal’s body heat, Kerri said. It was dark by the time a worker emerged with the deceased primate.
Kerri documented the night on Facebook Live. The videos drew some pushback interspersed with praise, but Barnett believes he made the right choice. Most critics weren’t locals.
“They’re not close around here, so they don’t have that fear,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said he’s heard from congregants at his church in Buckatunna, about 40 miles away, who were excited about his adventure. He’s anticipating some questions at Wednesday night’s Bible study.
Back in Heidelberg, a short distance from the accident site, Mayor Robert Barnett (no relation to George) said online jokes about the apocalypse have been circulating among the town’s roughly 600 residents. Crews in protective equipment have been spotted on the area’s highways. The mayor noted lightly there’s no quarantine in effect — he doesn’t want locals to be afraid or visitors to stay away.
“I hated it happened in this type of way,” he said, “but at least people know about Heidelberg right now.”
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