A Mississippi woman is facing scrutiny after killing a monkey that had escaped from a local research facility. The incident occurred late Tuesday evening in rural area outside of Jackson. The women, identified as Sarah Jenkins, encountered the primate near her home.

Jenkins, a mother of two young children, stated that she acted out of fear for her family’s safety. “It was getting dark, and this thing was just there, staring at me,” she recounted. ” I didn’t know what it was capable of, and my kids were inside. I had to protect them.” According to Jenkins, she shot the monkey with a legally owned firearm after it approached her aggressively.

The monkey was later identified as a rhesus macaque, that had escaped from a nearby biomedical research lab earlier that day. The facility, which conducts studies on infectious diseases, confirmed the escape and expressed regret over the incident. Animal rights activists have condemned Jenkins’ actions, arguing that the monkey posed no real threat. That non-lethal methods should have been considered. Local authorities are currently investigating the incident, and the case has ignited a debate over the balance between public safety and animal welfare.