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November 4, 2025 • 14 mins

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A quiet Mississippi morning turned into a moral crossroads after a truck carrying rhesus monkeys overturned and set fear loose in a small town. When Jessica, a mother of five, spotted one of the escapees in her yard, she made a split-second decision that has since sparked a national argument: prudent protection or panic-driven overreach? We walk through her first-hand account, the official warnings and walk-backs, and the uneasy space where public safety, research logistics, and parental instinct collide.

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SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Well, the Mississippi woman who shot and
killed an escaped monkeyyesterday said she feared for
the safety of her children.
The monkey became free when atruck carrying a group of
monkeys overturned last week.
Most of the animals were killed.
Two of the Reese's monkeys arestill free.
The 40-pound animal is among thebreed most medically studied on

(00:22):
the planet.

SPEAKER_00 (00:23):
Yes.
Hey guys.
Peace family.
You're doing well and blessedtoday.
You're tuning into the sound ofthe Only One Mike Podcast, Mike
Drop Show, where we break downtoday's biggest moves in culture
and community throughconversation that matters.
I'm your host, Carl Gerard, andI appreciate you locking in with
me.
Whether you've been followingevery episode or this is your

(00:43):
first time tuning in, this spaceis all about truth, clarity, and
conversations that truly matter.
I'm not here to tell you what tothink, folks.
I'm just here to lay it out foryou.
All right, so let me go aheadand set this scene and rewind
the clock back to October 28th.
Truck carrying Reese's monkeysoverturned on I-95 near
Heidelberg, Mississippi.

(01:04):
The crates busted open and theanimals bolted into the woods,
and the town was suddenly onalert.
Officials first warned that themonkeys could be dangerous or
carry diseases.
But later, Tulane University,which owned the animals,
clarified that they haven't beenexposed to anything infectious.
Still, that first message stuckwith people and they were

(01:24):
scared.
The word disease just spreadfaster than anything throughout
the community.
Now, here's where things take aturn.
A few days later, on a quietSunday morning, Miss Jessica
Barnes, and let's go ahead andapplaud Jessica Barnes, a real
American hero and a mother offive.
She looked out her window andsees something moving in her

(01:46):
yard.
Her 16-year-old son spotted itfirst.
It's a monkey.
One of the escapees.
She says that her first thoughtwas, I need to protect my kids.
So she grabs her guns, stepsoutside, and next thing you
know, she hit the monkey twice,and then the threat.

(02:06):
But that moment, that choice,lit up debates across the
country.
Was it fear, instinct, oroverreaction?
Was she protecting the home orresponding to panic caused by
mixed messages from theauthorities?
Now I want y'all to hear thisstraight from her.
All right.
This is Jessica Bond, and she'stalking about what went down in
her own words, y'all.

(02:26):
I want y'all to play pay closeattention to what she's saying,
and then you know, collect yourthoughts from there, and then
we'll jump back into it.
So here we go, Miss JessicaBond.
Applaud her once again.
Protecting her family.
And here's her story, folks.
Check this out.

SPEAKER_03 (02:44):
Um, so first, can you say and spell your first and
last name, please?

SPEAKER_02 (02:48):
Jessica Bond, J-E-S-S-I-C-A, V-O-N-D.

SPEAKER_03 (02:52):
Perfect.
Nice to meet you, Miss Jessica.

SPEAKER_02 (02:54):
Nice to meet you.
Um, I guess we'll start simple.
What happened to you yesterday?
Well, um, I was sleeping for themost part, and my son heard the
dolls barking because I had toldhim the night before, Saturday
night, that I was hearing noisesin the bushes.
And I told him that it wasstrange noises.

(03:16):
And I said, Y'all just don't gooutside.
I said, uh, if you do, let meknow.
So I guess he was alert and hewas aware about the noises.
So when he heard heard the dollsbarking, he um he looked out the
window and he told, he called meand said, Ma, the dog's outside
barking at something.
So I said, Well, see what it is.

(03:36):
You know, I was still in bed andI was getting out the bed trying
to get my clothes.
So he said, um, he said, Ma, itlook like a monkey.
So I said, I said, well, to go.
I said, record it.
I said, make sure, because, youknow, so we could have um proof
of it, that it was in our yard.
Because I didn't know if it wasjust running past or, you know,

(03:58):
leaving or whatever.
So he said, I can't get a clickshot.
He said, but Ma, it's themonkeys.
So I said, oh snap, let me getmy, let me get my phone and let
me get my gun, let me call umthe police and stuff.
So when I come out, I um I gotin my truck and I bagged up down
this road and I stopped aboutright there.

(04:20):
And he was on top of that binright there, and he he he left
from that bin and went andjumped on the railing of that
porch.
And um I sat in my truck, andwhen I when I got out, I said,
okay, you know, do I sit hereand wait for it to run away, run

(04:41):
to somebody else's yard?
You know, I have athree-year-old, and you know,
what if it come back out, youknow, had in the woods and come
back out and and try to attackher later on.
And, you know, she can't defendherself from a wild monkey, and
uh all it takes is a littlescratch for her to, you know,
develop something.
And we don't know what thesemonkeys have because one minute

(05:05):
they have this, and then thenext minute Tulane is saying
they don't have anything toavoid lawsuits and stuff.
So, you know, I'm not gonna takemy chances with my baby versus
uh infected animal.
So um I did what any motherwould do, and um I got out and I
I shot at the uh monkey, and hehe just he had a look like

(05:31):
something was wrong with him,you know.
He it looked like something waswrong, and I love animals.
And I have dogs, I have a cat, Ihave a rabbit, you know, and she
has had a turtle.
We love animals.
So it's like it's like not likeI'm an animal killer, you know.
I didn't want to just kill athing, but I mean, it's it's my

(05:52):
baby versus the animal, adangerous animal at that, you
know.

SPEAKER_03 (05:57):
No, I understand.
Um, so when you you call 911 oryou call wildlife in forestry?

SPEAKER_02 (06:05):
Um, I called the game warrant and um I called the
the 911.
Okay.
So how did the call go with thegame warning?
Well, um, they were just sayingthat they was gonna send
somebody out, you know, askingfor the address, and um that was
basically it.

SPEAKER_03 (06:26):
So you killed it before they got here?
Right.
Okay.

SPEAKER_02 (06:31):
So when they got here, did they do any cleaning
up or they didn't nothing?
And then he picked it up off theporch and drug it through here
and put it on the back of hispickup truck.
You know, I would have thoughthe would have put it in the bag,
you know, once he picked it upoff the porch and put it in the
bag.
So now I have to disinfect andclean off everything through

(06:56):
here because you know, you can'tsee where the blood trail is in
it.
So, and then you would thoughtthat they would have came
through and searched the woodsin here and see if the other one
is around.
The other one could have beensitting in the woods watching
everything go down, you know.
So I'm sorry.

(07:17):
The other one might be mad atme.
You know, he might be somewherewatching.
So, you know, it's crazy.
You know, you can't you can'tjust sit here and just say, oh,
well, let me just put in a cageof feed until somebody shows up,
you know.

SPEAKER_03 (07:38):
As far as the monkey's behavior, or I know you
probably didn't get up close onit.
Did you see anything on it thatlooked strange out of the
ordinary, or did it just looklike a monkey?

SPEAKER_02 (07:48):
Well, it had like tattoos on it.
Okay, you could see a tattoolike on him, and it looked like
a black spot, but like when youzoom in on the um, I'm sorry, I
heard something.
And but when you zoom in, youcould see like it was a like a
tattoo on it.

(08:09):
And you know, these is lab rats,basically.
You know, they they gettingtested and poked on.
You you never know what theyreally have, you know, those
three things that they name,that's probably just a few of
the things that they have.

SPEAKER_03 (08:26):
So how do you feel now today?
It's a new day.

SPEAKER_02 (08:31):
Um I don't I I mean, I hate that it happened because
I do love animals, but you know,too many need to own up to it,
and they need to get somebodyout here looking for the rest of
them.
You know, intelligent.
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (08:50):
Um is there anything else you want to say?

SPEAKER_02 (08:54):
Um, get out here and find the rest of these monkeys,
and for all the people that'sbeing rude and negative, get out
here and search for the animalsand find them yourself.

SPEAKER_03 (09:06):
So I don't think I have any other questions.

SPEAKER_02 (09:08):
Okay, you all right.

SPEAKER_00 (09:14):
She said the other one might be in the woods
watching everything go down.
No, this is wild, man.
This is wild.
So she said he was watchingeverything.
Like, oh, he snapped it, gothim.
Yo, but but yeah, man, and thefact that they actually just

(09:37):
drugged the monkey through aproperty.
I mean, come on, y'all.
Y'all gotta do the right thing.
And whoever's in charge ofdealing with this type of
situation, you gotta, you gottado the right responsible thing
and go and disinfect thiswoman's house, man.
She got babies in there, man.
Come on.
That don't make no sense.
Now, you can feel that emotion,you felt that fear that instant.

(09:59):
And she was out there, shewasn't out there like hunting
for monkeys, you know what Imean?
She was just reacting, and andand that, and that's what
happened.
So it's like, you know, the fearand the uncertainty of
everything just made everythingjust go from zero to 60.
And listen, I I can't hit thisbutton enough, y'all.
I gotta afford this beautifulsouthern sister for just doing

(10:22):
what she needs to do to protecther family.
Because, like she said, if thatbaby would have got scratched by
that monkey, you don't know youcould have another pandemic on
your hand for all you know, man.
You know what I mean?
So you you gotta be careful.
I did hear a report uh prior toum getting ready to set up for
this that another one of themonkeys was um was killed, um or

(10:43):
found dead, one of the two.
Either way, the monkey is nolonger with us, folks.
So uh that's that's two down.
So we still got where to go.
It's two down.
So I mean, you they they theythey just gotta do the right
thing, man.
Like she said, go out in thewoods, man, find the monkeys and
start playing, you know what Imean?
So this this is what happens,man, is that they they were out

(11:06):
there, they're running around inthese woods, you know, telling
people that there was noinfection risk and all that, but
you can't trust what people aresaying in that regard.
Cause like she said, Tulane isprobably trying to protect
herself from any type ofpossible lawsuits that comes
from all of this, you know whatI mean?
So, you know, this this story isjust bigger than the monkeys and

(11:27):
mom and everything.
It's about what happens wheneveryday people get caught
between official warnings andreal life fear.
Now, Jessica, you know, havingfive kids from ages, I believe
she said her youngest was three,and I'm not sure the oldest one
was 16.
Um, and you hear that and yousee, you know, that changes the
story, that changes the view.

(11:47):
You know what I mean?
You don't see a shooter, you seea mother standing in the middle
of confusing and confusion andlike just protecting her babies,
you know what I mean?
As any parent should.
So at the end of the day,whether it's Mississippi,
Milwaukee, Manhattan, everyparent can relate to that
instant.
Not my babies.
We ain't doing that, you knowwhat I mean?

(12:08):
So listen, I want to ask y'allthis.
Okay.
If you were Jessica, what wouldyou have done?
You know what I mean?
If you was Jessica, I mean, thisis a no-brainer, folks.
And again, I'm not here to tellyou what to think, but this is a
no-brainer.
Disease monkey running around inmy backyard, if I have the means
to get him up out of there.

(12:29):
That's your babies.
That's your babies.
Now, should the authorities havewarned people differently?
Do y'all think that that shouldhave gone down, or do you think
they just like, uh, we're gonnasweep this one under the rug?
You know what I mean?
There's nothing to see here.
Hopefully, we won't get sued.
You know what I mean?
And how do you balance thatscientific and work research
transport and all that, man?

(12:50):
You know, how do you do that andkeep the public safe?
Because this this truckoverturned, allegedly.
Overturned and um all thesemonkeys got up, got up, and got
out in the woods and did whatthey had to do.
So, you know what I mean?
Again, there's one more outthere somewhere.
As at the time of this report,two down, and there's one more
to go.
So, hey guys, listen, hit me upon Instagram X, or you you know,

(13:13):
check out the YouTube channel.
You can leave stuff in thecomments here at the Only One
Mike Podcast, and we can talkabout it further.
I'll read your thoughts, youknow, and um respond
accordingly, okay?
So, once again, guys, truth isstranger than fiction.
I mean, disease monkeys, youknow, running around out here.

(13:34):
We've seen this movie before,folks, and we know it don't end
well.
The only mic podcast, the onlyone mic podcast, folks, is
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(13:57):
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(14:20):
P1, Facebook and LinkedIn at theonly one mic podcast, and email
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Your voice, your questions, yourtake could be featured on the
show.
So again, guys, who's thatpeeking out your window?
Nobody now.
Especially if it's a diseasemonkey.

(14:41):
Get him up out of there, y'all.
We gotta protect our babies inthe community, y'all.
The only one my podcast, MikeDrop show, call your rod is out.
Peace.
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