The last of the monkeys that made a daring escape from a transport van crash on October 28 in Mississippi has been found and will now live out his life at a sanctuary in New Jersey.
The overturned truck was carrying 21 rhesus macaque monkeys from Tulane University in New Orleans, destined for biomedical research.
Amidst confusion over the status of the monkeys, the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office took the drastic step of shooting five, while 13 remained secured in their cages.
Three of the monkeys managed to flee, and local residents shot two of them within the week following the accident.
There was a sighting of one escapee post-crash, but it’s unclear if this was among the five that authorities “eliminated.” (Scotty Ray Report)
On Tuesday, the Popcorn Park Animal Refuge in Forked River, New Jersey, confirmed the safe capture of the final monkey, who has been affectionately named Forrest.
“[Forrest’s] life changed forever after a frightening highway accident in Mississippi,” the refuge wrote in a Facebook post. “Of the 3 remaining escapees, Forrest was the last and only one to survive, safely recovered after about a week on the run. Because he had spent so much time outside of the facility, he could not return to the research program. That’s when our team stepped in to offer him lifelong sanctuary at Popcorn Park Animal Refuge.”
Officials said when Forrest arrived at the facility, he did not have a name, only a tattooed identification number, “NI 62.”
Rhesus monkeys escaped from a truck that crashed Oct. 28 in Mississippi. (Jasper County Sheriff’s Department, Mississippi)
“Now living safely in our Monkey House, Forrest is steadily acclimating to his new home. He’s getting to know his caretakers and his neighboring monkeys, slowly building trust day by day,” the organization wrote. “He has discovered a growing list of favorite foods (grapes topping the list!) and has even begun vocalizing, a good sign that he is becoming more comfortable and confident in his new surroundings.”
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) senior science advisor on primate experimentation Lisa Jones-Engel told Fox News Digital Forrest’s survival is “a rare thread of mercy in a system built on violence.”
“Every federal agency and laboratory needs to confront a simple truth: no monkey should need a truck crash to escape a terrible fate,” Jones-Engel wrote in a statement. “After the crash, seven were shot dead and 13 were sent on to the same miserable lives and deaths that awaited them before the wreck. Only one survived long enough to be pulled out of the pipeline—a young macaque now called Forrest. His survival is a rare thread of mercy in a system built on violence. The way to prevent this horror in the future is to shut the industry down immediately.”
The research monkeys were aboard a truck that crashed Oct. 28 in Mississippi. (Jasper County Sheriff’s Department, Mississippi)
Fox News Digital previously reported the monkeys came from the Tulane National Primate Research Center, which receives funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Tulane officials said they did not own the monkeys and were not responsible for their transport.
Following the incident, PETA and nonprofit organization White Coat Waste Project called on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to halt NIH funding for the expensive and morally controversial primate testing.
The CDC later agreed to phase out all experiments on monkeys.
People in protective clothing search along a highway in Heidelberg, Miss., Oct. 29, near the site of an overturned truck that was carrying research monkeys. (AP Photo/Sophie Bates)
“Champagne corks are popping inside PETA’s headquarters today as it celebrates a tremendous victory for animals and for science,” PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo wrote in a statement to Fox News Digital after the announcement. “PETA thanks the administration for taking this decisive, long awaited action—one we’ve pressed for nonstop and that reflects what the undeniable evidence that experiments on monkeys aren’t helping humans one iota, as the four-decade failed effort to create a marketable HIV vaccine has shown.”
Guillermo added that for years, endangered and often infected long-tailed macaques have been funneled into U.S. laboratories.
“CDC’s own data shows monkeys arriving with tuberculosis, melioidosis, and other pathogens, weak testing protocols, and a supply chain riddled with escapes, disease lapses, and regulatory failures,” she said. “PETA is calling on the administration to build on this breakthrough: shut down the primate centers, end the monkey-import pipeline, and move every federal agency toward state-of-the-art, human-relevant science.”
The CDC did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
