A Mississippi pastor and a Mississippi mother each took matters into their own hands, shooting and killing two Rhesus monkeys that escaped from a truck accident on October 28 on Interstate 59.

According to CBS News, Jessica Bond Ferguson got out of her bed and grabbed her firearm and cellphone when her 16-year-old son told her he thought he’d seen a monkey running in the yard outside their home near Heidelberg, Mississippi.

When Ferguson stepped outside, she saw the monkey about 60 feet away and shot it. She’d heard the warnings issued about the escaped monkeys carrying diseases and didn’t want to take any chances.

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“I did what any other mother would do to protect her children,” Ferguson, who has five children ranging in age from 4 to 16, told The Associated Press.

The Jasper County Sheriff's Office says the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks took possession of the dead monkey.

A few days later, Pastor George Barnett was visiting his mother in Vossburg when his wife spotted a primate run across the road and scamper up a tree.

Barnett grabbed his rifle and shot twice, 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 told NBC News.

Tulane University National Biomedical Research Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, had been housing the Rhesus monkeys, which are routinely provided to scientific research organizations, according to the university. PreLabs, a biomedical research company, said the monkeys were theirs.

Authorities said most of the 21 monkeys were killed when the truck carrying them overturned on Interstate 59, but three had escaped. The third monkey was located and trapped near the crash site.

According to Jasper County Sheriff Randy Johnson, Tulane officials claimed the monkeys were not infectious, despite initial claims by the truck’s occupants warning that the monkeys were dangerous and harboring various diseases. Johnson said due to their aggressive nature, the monkeys still needed to be “neutralized.”

Tulane said in recent statement that the monkeys had received checkups confirming they were free of pathogens.