Please note that a majority of monkey bites, attacks and escapes go unreported

http://www.the-dispatch.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050304/APN/503040574&cachetime=5

AP State News
March 04. 2005 4:17AM

Chimps escape, attack visitors at animal sanctuary in Calif.

By KIM CURTIS
Associated Press Writer

A couple's visit to the chimpanzee they were forced to relinquish to an animal sanctuary turned tragic when two other chimps attacked the husband, critically wounded him before the animals were shot to death in mid-assault.

The son-in-law of the sanctuary's owner killed the animals that left St. James Davis, 62, in critical condition with massive injuries to his face, body and limbs, said Steve Martarano, a spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Game.

"He saw what was happening and had one kind of weapon with him and then got another he felt would be more substantial and shot them," Martarano said. "He pretty much saved a life."

Davis' wife, LaDonna Davis, 64, suffered a bite wound to the hand while attempting to help her husband, Martarano said.

The Davises were at the Animal Haven Ranch to celebrate the birthday of Moe, a 39-year-old chimpanzee who was taken from their suburban Los Angeles home in 1999 after biting off part of a woman's finger.

The couple had brought Moe a cake and were standing outside his cage when Buddy and Ollie, two of the four chimpanzees in the adjoining cage, attacked St. James Davis, Martarano said. Officials do not yet know how the chimps got out of their enclosure, he said.

Moe was not involved in Thursday's attack, Martarano said.

Dr. Maureen Martin, of Kern Medical Center, told KGET-TV of Bakersfield that the monkeys chewed most of Davis' face off and that he would require extensive surgery in an attempt to reattach his nose.

Davis was transported to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where he was undergoing surgery late Thursday night, according to Martarano.

Kern County Sheriff's Cmdr. Hal Chealander told The Bakersfield Californian that besides the damage to his face, Davis had his testicles and foot mauled off. Buddy, a 16-year-old male chimp, initiated the attack and after he was shot, Ollie, a 13-year-old male, grabbed the gravely injured man and dragged him down the road, according to Chealander.

"Everybody was trying to get the chimp off," Chealander said.

Two other chimps, females named Susie and Bones, also escaped from the cage they shared with Ollie and Buddy, prompting sheriff's deputies, animal control workers, and Fish and Game officials to launch a search.

The wayward pair were eventually recovered peacefully by Animal Haven owner Virginia Brauer after five hours. Martarano said one chimp was two miles from the sanctuary.

The Davises had waged an unsuccessful legal fight to bring Moe back to their West Covina home and visited him regularly at the sanctuary where he had been living since October. They brought the chimp from Africa decades ago after a poacher killed his mother.

Animal Haven Ranch has held state permits to shelter animals since 1985 and serves as a sanctuary for animals that have been confiscated or discovered lost, Martarano said.

It is allowed to house up to nine primates at one time and is home to one spider monkey and six chimpanzees, he said. The permits are held by Ralph and Virginia Brauer, who could not be reached immediately for comment.

Neighbors described them as devoted and responsible animal lovers.

"Nobody ever complains about these people," neighbor Debbie Hay told The Bakersfield Californian. "I think they tried to do a good thing."

Jeanne Miller, a family friend, said the Brauers cared for animals with their own money and the help of friends who brought fruit to help feed them.

"She's devoted her whole life to taking care of these chimpanzees," Miller said of Virginia Brauer.

Chimpanzees can turn surly if not handled properly, said Martine Colette, animal director of the Wildlife WayStation, a sanctuary near Los Angeles where Moe was housed for a time.

"Chimps are notoriously strong and they have some very, very specific behaviors," Colette said. "If someone tries to confine them, they will definitely put up a fight."

"An average person who doesn't know chimp body language can't read them," she added.

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041209/NEWS08/412090392/1001/NEWS

More than 90 animals are seized near Akron

Police had gotten a tip that the animals were being neglected. The owner of the unoccupied residence is expected to face charges.

By JESSICA GRAHAM
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
December 9, 2004

More than 90 animals, including monkeys, burros and a potbellied pig, were taken from an Akron residence Tuesday after police received complaints that they were being neglected.

Plymouth County sheriff's deputies and several representatives from the Siouxland Humane Society and the Animal Rescue League of Iowa seized 40 dogs, eight dog carcasses, 16 cats, 14 chickens, seven ducks, four goats, two burros, two macaque monkeys, a rabbit and a potbellied pig. It took more than 15 deputies and animal-care workers at least eight hours to clear the property.

Plymouth County Sheriff Mike Van Otterloo said Bonita Dow of Sioux City owns the unoccupied residence near Akron. Dow could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Van Otterloo said Dow had been keeping animals in the yard behind a chain-link fence, and in the house, in a garage and in a shed. Some animals were kept in cages without access to proper food and water. Many of the cages had not been cleaned recently, and the animals were living in urine and feces.

"Not until recently did it seem like she was gathering more animals . . . so many that they weren't being properly cared for," the sheriff said.

Tom Colvin, executive director of the Animal Rescue League, said he expects that Dow will be charged with animal neglect.

Colvin said the monkeys, which had sores on their bodies, are rare.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned that macaque monkeys can carry a virus that can be passed to humans through bites and scratches. The virus can cause potentially fatal meningoencephalitis in people, so the animals typically are not suitable as pets.

The animals are being cared for by the Siouxland Humane Society in Sioux City, except the two monkeys and one of the dogs. The Animal Rescue League is seeing to their care.

Colvin said none of the animals can be adopted until after a court hearing within 10 days of the seizure.

Josh Colvin, cruelty intervention coordinator for the Animal Rescue League, said it's unclear how often Dow checked the animals.

"No one can possibly care for that many animals by themselves," he said.

Tom Colvin said animal experts have theories about cases where someone has so many animals that they cannot care for them.

"There's been studies done about hoarder mentality," he said. "They cannot release them to anyone else's care, even though there's so many needs they can't see to: nutritional needs, veterinary care and sanitation."

http://www.tribune-chronicle.com/news/story/119202004_new02monkey09.asp

Rescuers give chase to monkey
11/9/04

By AMY McCULLOUGH Tribune Chronicle

GIRARD - When firefighters and police officers in Liberty and Girard received some phone calls Saturday about an escaped monkey, they said it seemed too comical to be true.

The 18-inch Capuchan monkey's journey through one township, one city and numerous rooftops ended Sunday when it fell 75 feet from a power line in Girard. However, the animal survived the fall and is now safely back in the Girard home of its owner. But when rescue workers arrived Saturday at Belmont Avenue in Liberty, they were greeted with a frightened exotic pet and an owner desperately trying to lure it from the rooftop of Bob Evans restaurant.

Vivian Dunkel of Girard, the monkey's owner, was picking up something from the restaurant when her child accidentally let the monkey out of the car, Liberty police Chief Anthony Slifka said.

When firefighters arrived, Dunkel climbed their ladder with bananas in hand and called to her pet monkey in an attempt to lure it into a cage.

The monkey escaped capture, jumped to the ground and ran off into the woods, but not before pealing a few bananas, Slifka said.

"It was heading westbound in the parking lot with its tail flying in the air. I felt like the Wizard of Oz. It was obviously very shaken up; she was on the roof for a while,'' Slifka said.

Liberty police officers put out an all-points bulletin on the monkey, but hadn't seen her since.

The animal was shocked by an electrical wire on Plymouth Avenue in Girard before its capture, although it was not seriously injured and is back home with Dunkel, according to Walt Sheler, a member of the Animal Welfare League's emergency response team.

Tim Adkins of Kinsman, the owner of Mountain Man Trappers, said Dunkel called him to help snatch the simian from its rooftop journey.

"The owners had got her confined to a roof,'' Adkins said. "About the time I got up on that roof, the monkey looked at me and decided she didn't want to be up there any more.''

The animal jumped down from the roof, ran two blocks and up a utility pole.

"Then, she got mixed up with some power lines,'' Adkins said. "She took a pretty good jolt, fell, and I thought that was going to be the end of her. But she seems to be doing OK.''

The owners were able to scoop up their pet, he said, and immediately took her to a veterinarian.

Dunkel recently bought the monkey at an auction, but it may not have felt comfortable enough with its new owner to take the bait when they tried to lure her, said Sheler, who received a call from an elderly couple on Indiana Avenue in Girard around 9:30 a.m. Saturday.

The couple let their dog out because it would not stop barking, Shelar said. When they looked to see what was causing the ruckus, they found a monkey on their roof.

Shelar said the monkey ate three peanut butter sandwiches before jumping to another roof.

"We tried luring it down, but it was so quick and agile that it just jumped from roof to roof and then jumped in a tree,'' he said.

Amber Bauman, an employee with the Animal Welfare League and part of the emergency response team, said she asked Girard police if they were sure it was a monkey on the roof.

"That's not a call you get every day,'' she said.

Bauman said everyone was trying to brainstorm on how to catch the monkey, which she said weighed between 4 and 6 pounds.

"They're very intelligent. You could see it was cold and hungry. As long as we stayed in the kitchen, she didn't move. She was hungry and wanted to get out of the cold, but every time we moved, she got scared,'' Bauman said. "It was unfortunate for the animal and for those trying to rescue her.''

Debbie Serbati, shelter director for the Animal Welfare League, said emergency workers left once they found out the monkey had an owner.

"When an owner has been located, then we're pretty much out of the picture,'' Serbati said. "We've had different calls on monkeys before. They do tend to get loose sometime.''

Dunkel was not available for comment Monday.

In his 20 years as a trapper, Adkins said he usually takes calls for raccoons, skunks, groundhogs and other northeastern Ohio nuisance animals. He has had some exotic calls before, he said, including a silver fox in Gustavus and some emus.

"But this is the first monkey,'' he said.

http://www.wkbn.com/Global/story.asp?S=2536607
Trumbull County, Ohio
Monkey Business

(11/8/04) It was all monkey business in Girard over the weekend, when a pet monkey escaped.

On Saturday, police and fire were called to the Bob Evans Restaurant on Belmont Avenue, after a female monkey was spotted on the rooftop.

Apparently, she'd gotten away from her owners. Yesterday, she was spotted on Plymouth Street in Girard. Soon she made her way up some power lines over the Trumbull avenue bridge. A local trapper was called out to help.

After getting zapped, the monkey fell 75 feet. Amazingly, she survived!

Her owners tell First News: she's doing okay and will see a veterinarian today, who specializes in exotic animals.

http://www.theomahachannel.com/entertainment/3756361/detail.html
Monkey Bites Utility Worker; Owner Arrested
Woman Refused To Hand Over Animal
POSTED: 4:37 pm CDT September 23, 2004

SHUEYVILLE, Iowa -- Police said a rural Shueyville woman was arrested for refusing to hand over a monkey that bit a utility worker. Sue Kriz was charged Wednesday with interference with official acts after authorities went to her home to seize the Capuchin monkey.

Johnson County authorities said a telephone worker who went to the home Monday was bit by the monkey. Officials do not know if the worker received medical treatment. A judge ordered the monkey removed from the home for routine testing.
Officials gave the order because there was concern Kriz would not surrender the animal voluntarily.

Capuchin are considered to be intelligent and are used as pets, trained performers, and therapy animals. The monkeys are historically known as the pets used by organ grinders during performances. They are native to southern Central America.

http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040923/NEWS01/409230326/1079

Thursday, September 23, 2004

Officials to seize monkey who bit man
By Iowa City Press-Citizen

Johnson County authorities sought and received court permission this week to seize a monkey from a Shueyville home after the primate bit a utility worker.

The monkey in question lives at 3080 120th Ave. NE, the home of Sue Kriz. It bit the male worker Monday, and Assistant Johnson County Attorney went to court Tuesday seeking a judge's order "to seize any monkey or monkeys on the property ....confine them for a period of fourteen days, and perform any tests as directed by the Iowa Department of Public Health."

According to Lahey's application, past dealings with Kriz made it "very unlikely" she would voluntarily turn over the animal. Lahey did not elaborate. Judge Denver Dillard granted the request.

Further details were not available at press time.

http://www.thehometownchannel.com/news/3611067/detail.html
Toddler Bitten By Monkey In Brooklyn Supermarket
Monkey Trained To Help Disabled Owner

POSTED: 2:49 pm EDT August 3, 2004
UPDATED: 3:03 pm EDT August 3, 2004

NEW YORK -- A monkey trained to help a disabled man with chores bit a 2-year-old boy in a Brooklyn supermarket.

The boy, Thomas Romano, was shopping with his grandparents at a grocery store at about 4 p.m. Monday when the monkey bit him on the arm. He was treated at a hospital and released.

The monkey's owner, 45-year-old Steven Seidler, said the animal attacked after the boy pulled its fur. Seidler is confined to a wheelchair and uses the monkey to help him open doors and pick things up.

But Romano's grandmother, Helene Romano, said the bite was unprovoked. It is illegal to keep monkeys as pets in New York City, but permits are given for those trained to help the disabled.

http://www.winonadailynews.com/articles/2004/07/08/news/01newsmonkey.txt
Published - Thursday, July 08, 2004
Monkey chase leads to quarantined animal and two people seeking rabies shots

By Jeff Dankert of the Winona Daily News

ST. CHARLES, Minn. - Authorities ordered a monkey quarantined Wednesday at the Winona County fairgrounds, and two people bitten Tuesday agreed to undergo rabies shots.

The incident, stemming from an unidentified boy who let a monkey loose Tuesday, could have led to a worse outcome, authorities and the monkey's owner said.

"I thought those guys were champions in catching the monkey in the first place, and now I think they're heroes in keeping the monkey alive," said Brian Staples of Cresco, Iowa, who operates Staples Safari Zoo and Animal Rescue and has a petting zoo and show at the Winona County Fair.

About 3 p.m. Tuesday, a boy went to a trailer where Staples keeps three Capuchins, a spider monkey, a vervet monkey and a lemur, according to the Winona County Sheriff Department.

The boy pried a locked door open, went into the trailer and then ran away, followed by all of Staples monkeys, he said. Staples and his helpers rounded up all but one Capuchin, which bit two people before being caught, Staples said.

Winona County Sheriff Dave Brand said police and deputies are looking for the boy who allegedly released the monkeys.

Winona County authorities met with Staples and the two victims for several hours Wednesday at the fairgrounds to decide how to resolve possible rabies issues. The two victims agreed to undergo a series of six rabies shots over 28 days, and Staples agreed to keep the monkey under quarantine for the same period.

"I'm sorry I'm going to put you though any pain," Staples told Anthony Mason-Forcier of Coon Rapids. The man went to the St. Charles Clinic on Wednesday to get his first shot. Staples set up billing to pay for the shots for both victims.

Mason-Forcier and a young woman who wouldn't provide her name said they were willing to take the shots rather than force authorities to kill and test the monkey.

"We would have had to make arrangements to put the animal down, which nobody wanted," said Ross Dunsmoor, Winona County Environmental Services supervisor. "Everybody's happy right now, including us."

Staples said he acquires monkeys rescued by government agencies and animal welfare organizations. He provided documentation to authorities Wednesday that showed the animals' health records and chain of custody are up to date
and legal.

The quarantined monkey, a 7-year-old named Lucas, likely would not have bitten anyone if people had not chased and cornered it, Staples said.

Smiling after the investigation finished Wednesday, he said he was pleased it would remain unharmed.

"These are my children," he said.

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/3502037/detail.html

Monkey Found In Macomb County Yard
Animal Control Official Says Animal Was 'Potentially Dangerous'
July 7, 2004

A Bruce Township family reportedly discovered a stray animal in their yard, but it wasn't a dog.

A monkey was transported to the Macomb County Animal Shelter after it was discovered Monday night, according to a report in The Macomb Daily. The monkey appears to be a macaque, which is the most widely distributed type of primate, according to chief animal control officer Sue Jeroue.

"They can be aggressive," Jeroue told the paper. "It's a wild animal and a stray on top of that. It was potentially dangerous."

The macaques are described as having gray, brown or black fur, and are commonly housed in research facilities, zoos, wildlife parks or kept as pets, according to the report.

The monkey that was found weighs about 20 pounds or less and the gender was not known.

Jeroue said Wednesday that the monkey's owner has come forward, but the animal is being held at their facilities.

Monkeys are reportedly legal as pets in some areas. The animal shelter will determine if it is appropriate for the owner to have the pet, Jeroue said.

Jim Janson, a wildlife division permit specialist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, said there are no restrictions in the state against owning a monkey; however, someone looking to keep a monkey as a pet must first check with their local government offices for ordinances against exotic pets, according to the paper's report.

http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1079454455325950.xml
ALMONT TOWNSHIP
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Tuesday, March 16, 2004
By James L. Smith
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Almont Twp. - Dozens of animals, including four monkeys, were found living on a farm here, some in what animal control officials described as deplorable conditions.

A total of 80 dogs were found living on the property, many in barns, but only nine were seized pending issuance of a search warrant. The rest of the animals remained on the property.

Authorities discovered the situation after responding to a domestic dispute involving a husband and wife early Saturday.

Five dogs, four monkeys and a number of caged cockatoos and parrots were found in the couple's residence on Hall Road.

Lapeer County Animal Control Chief Walt Rodabaugh said the living area of the house was "not too bad" but that the basement where the monkeys were living was in very bad shape.

The monkeys appeared to be similar to those used in medical research, Rodabaugh said. Plans are to relocate them to a zoo.

No charges have been filed in connection with the suspected animal neglect.

The couple have a kennel license issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Flint Journal could not reach USDA officials for comment Monday.

Additional examinations by veterinarians and an investigator from the federal agency that licenses the kennel are needed before a decision is made on potential criminal charges, Rodabaugh said.

Police arrested the wife, 44, after she refused to let officers enter the home and threatened to turn three dogs loose on officers after the officers tried to enter the house looking for her allegedly suicidal husband, said Almont Police Chief Eugene Bruns.

The woman, contacted at her house, declined to comment Monday.

Many of the dogs, of various breeds including Rottweilers and golden retrievers, were kept in cages on cement slabs with no bedding in various barns on the property, Rodabaugh said.

"There was no heat in the buildings and no evidence of food or water in the cages," he said.

The nine dogs seized include a Boston terrier with obvious skin problems and bichon frises that were matted with dried feces.

"We took the (nine) because of unsanitary conditions. They were outside and covered with feces," Rodabaugh said.

Once a search warrant is issued, Rodabaugh said he would return to the house accompanied by veterinarians to check on all the animals and determine whether more should be seized. He said he has a group of dog groomers lined up to clean the dogs after they are examined by a veterinarian.

Rodabaugh said his office had investigated complaints about the residence prior to the couple receiving a federal kennel license.

Almont police Officer Laura Moore, assisted by officers from Imlay City and Almont, arrived at the residence about 3:50 a.m. Saturday after a resident at the house called about a family fight, Bruns said.

When officers arrived, they learned that the property's co-owner, 49, had fired a .22-caliber rifle in the air in the yard and returned inside the house, where he slashed his wrists and then disappeared outside on the property.

Officers eventually located the man hiding under a blanket in one of the barns on the property, Bruns said. The man was taken to an area hospital for a mental evaluation.

A third person, a man confined to a wheelchair, was also living in the house, but he was simply renting a room from the couple.

http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0403/11/ma05.html
March 11, 2004
Longing for pet, woman climbs in cage

By Jeremy Hudson jehudson@clarionledger.com
Kathy Hannah slept in the same bed with Chico the monkey, bathed him in a tub and kept him in diapers at her Clinton home, officials said.

Vickie D. King / The Clarion-Ledger

Chico, a 6-year-old Capuchin monkey, has been impounded at the Mississippi Animal Rescue League.

Though the Clinton Animal Rescue League persuaded her to relinquish Chico on Tuesday after he bit somebody, Hannah apparently couldn't bare to see him go.

Later that day, Hinds County sheriff's deputies were called to the Rescue League, where "we found (Hannah) drunk and inside a cage with a monkey," Deputy Anthony Cook wrote in a report.

"Miss Hannah was very abusive to us and the rescue league employees. We tried to get her out of the cage and every time we got close to her the monkey would try to attack us."

Chico finally was subdued, and Hannah was charged with disorderly conduct and public drunkenness, the report said. Hannah, released on bond Wednesday, could not be reached.

During the past five months, Chico had bitten Hannah, her neighbor, a Clinton police officer, and an employee at the Rescue League, officials said.

Last month, Hannah, 39, was charged with simple assault on a police officer, eluding a police officer and careless driving after she drove off with Chico when authorities came to take him, said Ric Wooton, Clinton's animal control officer. The city doesn't allow exotic pets.

The 6-year-old Capuchin monkey will leave Mississippi today for a sanctuary in Oklahoma.

"They are not little children with fur coats," said Debra Boswell, director of the Rescue League. "When they reach sexual maturity, they start to become true monkeys and act aggressively. They can do a lot of damage."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40463-2003Dec30.html

Pet Monkey Bites the Hand That Feeds Her
Zsa Zsa Quarantined After Injuring Owner's Friend in Dinnertime Mishap
By Joshua Partlow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 1, 2004; Page SM01

The behavior was quite unlike Zsa Zsa.

Sure, she has been known to nip at a shirt button, and she likes to wrestle around. But she has some manners. She'll eat pizza from the table, drink out of a straw, and what's more, members of her family say, she knows right from wrong.

So when Jeffrey Bennett approached Zsa Zsa, a 6-year-old pigtailed macaque monkey, to give her the evening meal of baby formula on Saturday, he had no reason to expect his left thumb would be the main course.

But that's what happened, said Bennett, a 39-year-old man who stays at the Calvert County home of Tracey Summers, the owner of two monkeys. Bennett said Zsa Zsa most likely was intrigued by his silver-colored watch when she decided to chomp down on his hand.

"I feed her all the time. She's a real good monkey. She's never done this before," said Bennett outside of the St. Leonard home on Monday, his hand wrapped in a bloody bandage and his thumb supported by a splint.

Police responded to the house on Kings Road for the rare monkey bite call at about 10:30 p.m. Saturday, taking Bennett to Calvert Memorial Hospital for treatment. The bite, which occurred at the base of Bennett's thumb, did not cause serious injuries.

It is legal to keep monkeys as pets in Maryland as long as the owner obtains the proper permits. Zsa Zsa came from Dallas, said Summers, as part of arrangements to rescue her from an abusive home. More recently, Summers bought Isabel, a 2-year-old pigtailed macaque, on the Internet as a companion for Zsa Zsa. Don Baugher, who lives with Summers, said the monkeys
cost about $3,500 each.

Pigtailed macaques are brown monkeys native to Sumatra and Burma. Females generally weigh 12 to 20 pounds and can grow up to two feet tall. Some have been trained in their native lands to climb palm trees and harvest coconuts. Summers said her monkeys live in large steel cages and play in a swimming pool outside.

"They're very good girls. They play rough sometimes, but they're very, very smart. Zsa Zsa knows 'time out,' and 'no teeth," said Summers, who works at a hair salon and was away from her home when Bennett said the monkey attacked. She believes that Zsa Zsa would not do such a thing, and said a more likely explanation for the wound was that Bennett cut himself with a
knife.

"Nobody's been able to provide proof that it happened," she said, adding that "I don't want some animal rights organization camping out on my doorstep."

For now, Zsa Zsa is being kept in quarantine inside the house for 30 days, and county Health Department officials will make periodic checks on the health of the animal, said Ashley Conway, a public health nurse in the disease surveillance and control unit. Conway said there have been "a couple" of monkey bites in Calvert during the past year. The main concern from a health standpoint is that monkeys can transmit the herpes B virus to humans, she said.

"There are concerns when people start to keep wild pets. Even though they were born in captivity, they are wild animals," Conway said. "A good rule of thumb is not to mess with exotic animals. If you see a cute monkey, don't pet it, don't feed it, don't pick it up."

http://www.theomahachannel.com/news/2586253/detail.html

Chimp In Big Rig Takes Trucker By Surprise
Animal's Owner Faces Cruelty, Neglect Charges
POSTED: 11:10 p.m. CST October 27, 2003

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Police in Kansas City were busy Monday, locked in a five-hour standoff with a chimpanzee that had been left alone in the cab of its owner's 18 wheeler, KMBC's Tom Corvin reported.

Ray Wagner discovered the animal in the truck next to him while he was filling out paperwork off Kansas Avenue near Interstate 635.

"Looked like he had a monkey mask on," Wagner said. "And I said, 'You take Halloween seriously, don't you?'" Wagner said the strange companion answered with a "primate sound," but Wagner continued with the conversation.

"I said, 'What's your story?' ... he opened his mouth ... and he smiled at me," Wagner said. "And he started shaking the truck and I said, 'My God, you are real!'"

Wagner called the police, who in turn called for Animal Control. Animal Control called in primate specialist Danny Kolwick, who used a tranquilizer dart to stun the chimp and get it into a cage. The entire ordeal lasted from 10 a.m. until about 3 p.m.

Trucker John Williams said his partner, Mark Archigo, has had the chimpanzee for years, riding cross-country in the cab of Archigo's big rig.

"Her name's 'Suko,' and she's 12 years old," Williams said. "She's just like us. She's a human being, you know?"

Kolwick said Archigo has left the chimp alone several times over the years, but the owner has always gotten the animal back.

Suko was taken to Savannahland Refuge, where she could remain permanently along with 40 other primates. Archigo, who didn't have the proper license to have Suko, faces animal cruelty and neglect charges.

http://www.wnbc.com/news/2565612/detail.html
Monkey Business Causes Chaos In Stamford
Chimp Escaped From Owners

POSTED: 8:36 a.m. EDT October 20, 2003
UPDATED: 7:01 p.m. EDT October 20, 2003

STAMFORD, Conn. -- Travis, a 170-pound chimpanzee, can do lots of things humans do. He waters the flowers, enjoys a glass of wine, brushes his teeth and even watches baseball on television.

But one thing Travis apparently has not mastered is sensing the best time for play time.

The diaper-wearing chimp bolted from a sport utility vehicle driven by his owners Sunday night, commandeered an intersection in the heart of this busy Fairfield County city and held police at bay for a few hours.

Despite the efforts of officers, who arrived in more than a dozen cruisers, the chimp continued playing in the middle of the street, rolling on his back and occasionally charging officers.

"He just wanted to play, but it wasn't the time or place," Sandy Herold, who owns Travis with her husband, Jerry, said Monday.

The chimp, when not closing doors on squad cars to prevent being trapped inside, made occasional runs toward the crowd on all fours.

"He's very strong," Sgt. Richard Phelan said.

By 11:20 p.m. police had succeeded in getting the chimp into its owners' car. Officers pressed their hands against the doors of the SUV to hold the chimp inside.

Travis, who is nine years old, was sleeping it off Monday.

"He got up and had breakfast and went back to bed. He's tired," Herold said.

Travis and his owners will not face charges, police said.

"There is no enforcement action planned," said Assistant Chief Frank Lagan. "It's the first time it got loose."

A new law requires new owners of such animals to have permits, but does not apply retroactively, according to David Leff, deputy commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Lynn DellaBianca, the city's animal control officer, said she plans to contact the owners and advise them to take more precautions.

"I don't think it's a good idea to be driving around with a chimpanzee in your car that can easily escape," DellaBianca said. "An animal like this could easily kill a human."

Lagan and Herold said Travis became agitated when someone threw something at the car, perhaps a paper cup.

"When this guy threw this, that's what he thought, that it was part of his play time," Herold said.

Travis is playful and not mean, Herold said. She described the chimp as almost human and said Travis even mourned when Herold's daughter was killed in a car accident a few years ago.

"He would take her picture and hold it," she said. "If I cry he'll lick my tears."

Travis runs his own bath water and prefers ice cream, wine from a tall-stemmed glass and filet mignon over bananas.

"He likes them, but he's not crazy about them," Herold said, acknowledging Travis could stand to lose a few pounds.

Travis also feeds hay to the horses near his house in a more rural part of Stamford. He used to root for the New York Mets when Stamford native Bobby Valentine was the manager, but now he roots for the Yankees.

"He loves baseball. He likes anything with action," Herold said.

Travis will now travel in a more secure van, Herold said. Gone are the glory days when he would ride in his owner's restored Corvettes.

"He would wave to people coming down Summer Street," Herold said. "They were like his cars."

http://www.kirotv.com/weirdheadlines/2504864/detail.html
Toothless Monkey Escapes From Home

POSTED: 8:51 a.m. PDT September 23, 2003
UPDATED: 8:56 a.m. PDT September 23, 2003

GLENVILLE, N.Y. -- Mary Malewicz is miffed over her missing monkey, Mickey.

The black-and-white Capuchin monkey escaped around 4 p.m. Sunday from Malewicz's home, 20 miles northwest of Albany.

Since then, police spotted him in the woods, but the critter just scampered off. Area residents have come across the precocious primate, but it has avoided capture.

Malewicz is even using her other monkey, Kate, to help lure Mickey back home. Mickey is worth about $7,000, she said.

Malewicz says the toothless monkey, whose last owner defanged him after he nipped her, is tame and friendly. She suggests that anyone who spots the monkey should walk up to him and grab his tail.

"He'll wrap his tail around your arm and you can just carry him," she said. "But hang on tight because he'll take off again."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0308090237aug09,1,6595804.story?coll=chi-newslocal-hed

Pet's monkeyshines set neighborhood scurrying
By Angela Rozas
Tribune staff reporter

August 9, 2003

It was a one-monkey circus.

There were animal control officers, police officers and neighbors scouring North Side streets Friday afternoon looking for a little monkey who had escaped from her home at about 2 a.m.

And after 15 hours on the loose, Hopie, 7, a rhesus monkey about 2 feet tall, was captured and returned to her owner Friday evening.

"I'm just so relieved. She's my baby, and I'm just glad to get her back," Keith Potetti said after being reunited with his pet. He said she escaped from her cage and sneaked out his third-floor apartment early Friday.

Catching Hopie was no monkey business.

The brown monkey was sighted on at least four streets but scampered one step ahead of her pursuers. Finally, at about 5:30 p.m., two animal control officers captured her with a net in an alley in the 4500 block of North Clark Street. She was almost a mile away from home.

"She was pretty scared," said Andrew Galanos, an animal control supervisor. "We got her back and fed her some carrots and peanuts. She's a cutie."

Potetti, called "the monkey man" by neighbors in the 4400 block of North Winchester Avenue, said he bought the monkey for his former wife. He named the monkey Hope (or Hopie) because his ex-wifewas battling cancer.

Potetti said Hopie had never escaped before. But while he was sleeping early Friday, the monkey opened the latch on her cage, opened a window and climbed out. A dog's barking woke Potetti and he tried to coax his pet back inside. He went back to sleep, leaving the window open. In the morning, he called animal control.

Neighbors watched Friday morning as animal control officers and police chased the monkey through an alley behind the apartment.

"There were squad cars and undercover guys and guys walking around with pistols. It looked like they were after Al Capone," said neighbor Steve Weinstein.

Potetti has a second rhesus monkey named Marley. That 3-year-old monkey stayed home, he said.

http://www.nbc5.com/news/2392679/detail.html
Runaway Monkey Captured
'Hoppi' Discovered In North Side Stairwell

August 8, 2003

CHICAGO -- A small monkey that escaped from its owner was finally captured Friday evening, authorities said.

The animal was discovered in a stairwell in the 4500 block of North Clark Street at about 5:30 p.m. and caught using a net, Animal Control Supervisor Andrew Galanos said.

The monkey's name is Hoppi. She is about 25 to 30 inches tall and weighs about 30 pounds, Galanos said. The specific breed of the monkey was not known.

Galanos said that on the first attempt, the monkey -- whose owner had told him was friendly -- latched onto his hand with her teeth. He was not injured.

"She just wanted to let me know she was not happy with me," said Galanos.

The animal was captured shortly thereafter, Galanos said.

Galanos did not believe that the animal was illegal, as long as it has the proper vaccinations. He was not certain if it was required to be registered.

The owner picked up the missing pet and took her home around 7:15 p.m., Galanos said. The owner's name was not released.

The animal was spotted throughout the day at numerous locations in neighborhoods on the North Side, police said.

The monkey was seen at 1818 W. Sunnyside Ave., 4400 N. Winchester Ave., and the 1900 and 2100 blocks of North Warner Street, police said. The monkey was also seen in locations east of the North Branch of the Chicago River.

Officers from the Belmont District had managed to surround the monkey around 3 p.m. as it clung to a tree on the 1500 block of West Sunnyside Avenue, Belmont District Lt. Roger Bay said.

Officers from Animal Control arrived at the scene, but the monkey again managed to scramble free, Bay said.

Lincoln Park Zoo spokeswoman Kelly McGrath said animal care experts were "very much against" pet owners taking monkeys or other primates as pets, arguing the animals need space and social groups in which to interact.

http://www.news10.net/storyfull.asp?id=5020
KXTV
Wednesday, August 06, 2003
Antelope Teen Finds Monkey at Gas Station

April Lockhart could barely believe her eyes. As she was pulling into an Antelope gas station, she spied a cage by the side of the road. In that cage was a full grown monkey.

Lockhart called the California Highway Patrol, but she had trouble getting them to take her seriously. "They were like, 'A monkey in a cage? You found a monkey in a cage, are you serious?' And I was like, 'Yes, I found a monkey!'"

Lockhart also called Krysta Sponaugle, a friend who has experience with exotic animals. "I've had everything from alligators to emus and rattlesnakes," said Sponaugle.

While Sponaugle consulted the Internet on what to feed the monkey, the CHP called the SPCA. "It's from the macaque family. It's a senior, in excess we're thinking, of 20, possibly as old as 35," said David Dickenson of the SPCA.

As to where the monkey came from, April believes it either fell or was pushed off the back of a truck. The SPCA has theories, too, but isn't sharing them just yet.

The monkey might end up at a local zoo. If it does, April has a plan. "Take my whole family to see it, show him off, be like: 'I found that monkey!'" said Lockhart.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
August 6, 2003, Wednesday
Tighter rules sought on exotic pets after trade, risks increase

BY: By Marilynn Marchione

MILWAUKEE _ It was supposed to be a lesson on how tame poisonous snakes are.

Virginia Day was holding one of the 160 serpents at the "zoo" she ran from her house trailer in Manitowoc County. Snakes are fine if you know how to handle them, she told a visitor and his son. In fact, she had hand-fed 18 baby chicks to this 7-foot Indian cobra the day before.

"I knew he wouldn't get angry and bite me," Day recalled, "but I never thought he'd think I was food."

As the horrified pair watched, the snake attacked her, and a lesson in safety on that day 10 years ago changed dramatically.

A Flight for Life helicopter whisked Day to a Milwaukee hospital as zoos throughout the Midwest pooled their supplies of rare cobra anti-venin. Thirty-two vials were rushed to the city to save her life.

Day spent three weeks in the hospital, and because she was on public aid, taxpayers paid for her care just as they had after she was bitten by a South African puff adder a year earlier.

Exotic pets have injured and sometimes killed their owners or other people. But the recent monkeypox outbreak, which sickened at least 72 people in six states, underscores a higher price we all pay: a threat to public health from emerging infectious diseases.

The exotic pet industry is an ideal system for breeding novel germs, which puts the public at risk in ways that people who buy, sell and handle such animals can't possibly know, health experts say. They are calling for tighter regulation.

Industry experts acknowledge that exotics can spread disease, but they argue that the chance of catching an illness from them is small.

___

The dangers posed by exotic animals have been magnified by the Internet and increased international trade, which have made it easier for people to acquire more wild animals and more diverse species from remote lands.

"We now have this potential to make it literally one global infectious disease world," said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

The monkeypox outbreak illustrates how a germ can be unleashed on an entire continent, putting people who never had contact with an exotic animal at risk of getting a potentially disfiguring, even deadly, disease.

One week, the virus was in a giant pouched rat in an African rain forest; a few weeks later, in a 3-year-old Wisconsin farm girl playing with a cute little prairie dog her mother got at a 4-H swap meet.

The prairie dog unwittingly became a conduit for the virus after it was sucked from the ground by what amounts to a giant vacuum cleaner and then housed in close quarters with imported African rodents.

"Basically you factored out an ocean and half a continent by moving these animals around and ultimately juxtaposing them in a warehouse or a garage somewhere," said Jeffrey Davis, Wisconsin's epidemiologist.

Imagine what would happen, health experts say, if the germ had infected cats or dogs instead of prairie dogs. Or if the germ had been Ebola or severe acute respiratory syndrome _ far more deadly diseases _ instead of monkeypox.

"This one, fortunately, looks like we're going to get through this without any fatalities. The next one, we may not be so fortunate," said Jim Kazmierczak, Wisconsin's public health veterinarian.

For years, animal rights advocates have called for restrictions or bans on the trade of exotic and wild animals. Groups such as the American Veterinary Medical Association have lobbied for the same thing because of the public health risk.

But such calls have fallen on deaf ears. A temporary ban on importing African rodents was put in place because of monkeypox, but animals from other countries continue to stream into the United States and breeders keep raising and selling exotics on captive-bred farms in this country.

Will the monkeypox outbreak spur broader regulation?

"I think it's going to move now. As we say, opportunity knocks, and I think it's knocked pretty loudly here," said James Hughes, longtime director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"People have looked very hard for the source in nature of Ebola virus, and they haven't found it," Hughes added. "I certainly don't want to find it as the result of the importation of an infected animal."

Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said he would bring the exotic pet issue to the Council on Public Health Preparedness on which he serves. It reports to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson.

"It is a major public health issue," Benjamin said. "There's a growing recognition of the risk. There clearly needs to be much more aggressive federal action on this."

Some in the industry favor increased oversight.

Marshall Meyers, executive vice president of the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council, said he was surprised to learn that before the monkeypox outbreak no health protocols, such as a quarantine, had applied to the importation of African rodents. Imported birds and some mammals are quarantined when they enter the U.S., Meyers said.

Permits should be required for ownership of big cats, bears, venomous reptiles and other dangerous exotics, Meyers said. That would help ensure that the animals are in knowledgeable hands, he said.

Meyers acknowledged that exotic animals can spread disease, but the possibility of them bringing in a new illness is relatively small, he said.

Since the outbreak, the council, a 2,000-member trade group, says it is monitoring more than 500 legislative initiatives affecting the industry.

___

The risk of injury from exotics has been evident for many years, and the victims often are children, notes the Animal Protection Institute, which has cataloged hundreds of examples in recent years of injuries caused by exotic or wild animals.

They include a 3-year-old Kentucky boy killed by a relative's tiger and a 6-year-old Florida girl attacked by a friend's cougar.

In southeastern Wisconsin, the story of a runaway monkey shows how bystanders can be harmed when owners cannot control their animals.

The monkey smashed through a porch wall, ran across George Mutter's backyard in Kansasville and fled into his garage. "I had the garage door open, and I didn't see it," Mutter, now 76, recalled after the Japanese macaque attacked him on an August morning in 2000.

Mutter was closing the garage door when the monkey suddenly jumped from the car and grabbed him by the waist.

"I tried to get it away, and then it slid down my leg and either bit me or scraped me," Mutter said.

Mutter fought off the monkey, and it ran away but turned and attacked again, according to a police report.

The monkey's next target was Renee DeGroot, who was attacked while delivering mail in her car. "Something hit me on the elbow, and all of a sudden I was bleeding," she said.

As a Racine County sheriff's deputy approached in a squad car, the monkey attacked DeGroot again. DeGroot, now 44, received three or four stitches.

The monkey's owner, Jacquelyn T. Thacker, pleaded no contest to a charge of interfering with a police officer and was ordered to pay a $335 fine, according to court records. The monkey was euthanized. Thacker could not be reached for comment.

When deputies talked to Thacker, though, they learned that she had taught her pet, Ronnie, to open soda cans and drink from them. Ronnie liked to crush them when he was done. Thacker told deputies she had found four empty beer cans left over from a neighbor's party; all appeared to have been crushed by Ronnie.

Whether the 8-year-old monkey was drunk or just excited was never clear.

___

Injuries involving exotic pets have been reported in virtually every state, but infections are even more common.

A 72-year-old Boston woman got pneumonia and died in 1998 from a fungal infection she acquired from a pet cockatoo, likely from airborne exposure to its cage droppings. She had had no direct contact with the bird.

Salmonella is the most common infection linked to exotic animals; it's carried by iguanas, snakes, lizards, turtles and other reptiles. More than 80,000 infections occur each year in the United States, said Fred Angulo, an epidemiologist who has studied the disease for a decade at the CDC.

Most victims are infants or young children who are least able to fend off the germs and often are infected without direct contact with the reptile, the CDC reports. Many develop deadly bloodstream infections or other illnesses.

A 6-week-old Ohio boy got meningitis from a pet turtle whose food and water bowls were washed in the kitchen sink, where they may have come into contact with items used to feed the child.

In Green Bay, Wis., a 5-month-old girl died in December 1998 of a strain of salmonella identical to one later cultured from the stool of an iguana in her home. Health officials think she became infected from crawling on carpeting that contained the animal's droppings. Salmonella bacteria have been known to remain viable for more than a year in the droppings.

"It's horrible. And the parents didn't know" the risk, said Kazmierczak, the state public health veterinarian.

Only a fraction of the infections that occur in Wisconsin are recognized for what they are and reported, said Davis, the state epidemiologist. One-third of the 117 reptile-associated salmonella infections reported in Wisconsin from 1998 to 2003 involved babies.

Breeders who handle reptiles acknowledge that the animals carry salmonella and can pass it to humans. But Kevin Hanley, a Milwaukee-area breeder of snakes and geckos, said good hygiene can limit the risk.

Chris Roscher, co-owner of L.A. Reptile, a large importer in Los Angeles, agreed.

"The people who make a big issue out of it (are) ridiculous," she said.

The problem was worse when a small turtle known as the red-eared slider was a popular pet in the early 1970s. Reptile-associated salmonella cases dropped 77 percent nationwide after turtles smaller than 4 inches were banned in 1975.

Herpes and hepatitis worries led the CDC to ban importation of primates as pets in the mid-1970s, and tick-borne heart water disease prompted an emergency ban on selling certain African tortoises in 2000, according to the Humane Society of the United States.

___

Kazmierczak said there are options short of a ban.

For pet reptiles, states could require sellers to provide information about the health hazards to anyone buying an animal. In Kansas, buyers sign forms acknowledging they have received such information, he said.

A CDC survey in March 1999 found that only three states had such regulations. And three states ban reptiles in day care centers and long-term care facilities.

Another option: require people to get a license or permit to have an exotic or dangerous pet. Such a measure could help ensure that they know how to take care of the animal and prevent injuries.

However, some fear that too much regulation could backfire. "You've got to be careful that you don't drive this underground," said Benjamin of the public health association.

For some animals, such as venomous snakes and large exotic cats such as cougars and tigers, a ban might be the only way to prevent injury or illness, some say.

"A venomous rattlesnake is a dangerous product," and it may need to be regulated the way other dangerous things such as guns are, said Stephen Hargarten, chief of emergency medicine at Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital and the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Craig Pelke, supervisor of the reptile house at the Milwaukee County Zoo, said very few people know how to safely keep a poisonous snake.

"Snakes are escape artists, and when you've got something that can kill you, it's just way too dangerous," he said.

The zoo regularly gets calls to help rescue people bitten by venomous snakes, said Deputy Director Bruce Beehler. Earlier this year, it rushed anti-venin to Minnesota, only to be stuck with the bill when the patient's insurance company refused to pay.

"The county taxpayers paid because of somebody in Duluth kissing their rattlesnake," he said.

At the CDC alone, 175 staffers have been working on monkeypox. Hundreds more at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Department of Health and Human Services and other agencies have been testing samples, tracing animals, investigating and treating human cases, and working on ways to contain the outbreak. State and city employees also have worked on it.

"We don't have people sitting around here waiting for stuff to happen," said the CDC's Hughes. "When things like this happen, we put other important things on the back burner."

Meanwhile, Virginia Day now lives with her mother in Algoma. Day has five pet king snakes, which are not venomous, and she said she's learned her lesson. "I've changed my opinions a lot about how you handle animals," she said.

Day, now 55, used to charge $3 for people to see the "Middle Earth Reptile Zoo" inside her 14-by-72-foot house trailer when she lived in Manitowoc County. She once had 167 snakes, plus lizards, in glass cages stacked to the ceiling, some covered only with light screens.

Day now thinks that people younger than 18 should not be able to buy poisonous snakes, but she defends the right for anyone else to own them.

"I think they're beautiful and that people need to learn more about them," she said.

Tulsa World (Oklahoma)
July 30, 2003 Wednesday Final Home Edition
Monkey see? Then do call the authorities

BY: RALPH W. MARLER World Staff Writer

An Osage County motorist says she saw an adult and two baby simians run for cover. PAWHUSKA -- Home, home on the range, where the deer and monkeys play.

Monkeys? In Osage County?

That was the reaction Tuesday when the Osage County Sheriff's Office received a telephone call that monkeys were loose along a state highway.

Sheriff Russell Cottle said the caller reported seeing an adult monkey and two small monkeys along Oklahoma 123 between Barnsdall and Bartlesville.

Deputy Rick Harper searched an area five miles north of Barnsdall but found nothing, Chief Investigator Wes Penland said.

The caller said she stopped on the side of the road when she saw a large white-faced monkey.

After the woman stopped, the adult monkey grabbed two little monkeys and ran into nearby woods, the caller told the dispatcher, Penland said.

Harper checked with the Woolaroc Museum and Wildlife Pre serve about three miles away but was told that the sanctuary did not have monkeys among its wild animals, Penland said.

The preserve advertises bison, elk and longhorn cattle among the wildlife roaming its 3,600 acres.

Harper found no sign of monkeys after an hour of searching along the road, Penland said.

A nearby resident, who once kept monkeys, told Harper that none of his monkeys had ever escaped.

Even if they had, he said, they probably could not have survived in the wild.

That's true, said Paul Louderback, an animal registrar for the Tulsa Zoo.

"I would guess it wouldn't, because of the heat and not being able to find the food," he said.

If there were babies, then the search for food and water would be of even more importance, he said.

Primates have a diet of fruits and vegetables, which are not likely to be in abundance in the hot Osage County wilds, he said.

If the monkeys were domesticated, they would not be equipped for the wild, either in searching for food or identifying predators, Louderback said.

"We get calls like this all the time," he said, usually of exotic animals escaping from their owners.

Penland said deputies will continue to monitor the area from time to time for any signs of monkeys.

He said anyone seeing a monkey should not approach it or attempt to capture it.

Louderback agreed, saying primates bite, especially if protecting young animals.

He advised contacting a veterinarian who could use a tranquilizer gun to subdue the animal so that it could be handled safely.

If a monkey is found, the Tulsa Zoo would help find it a home, but not at the zoo, he said.

Veterinarians in Pawhuska and Bartlesville said they had not treated monkeys or known of anyone who kept them.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Local/03AreaEAST06072303.htm

Strip club reports monkey mascot missing

By JAY STAPLETON
STAFF WRITER

Last update: 22 July 2003

HOLLY HILL -- Small, furry and friendly, a strip-club mascot named Kiki was reported missing Tuesday, filling the pet monkey's owner with dread.

"I'll do anything," TeeJay Flores said. "Just bring me my baby home, please."

Flores, 35, who owns Chic's on Ridgewood Avenue, said she was visiting New York last week and left Kiki -- a 5-year-old Weeper Capuchin monkey -- in a cage at her home. A friend had agreed to care for the 2-foot tall simian.

Flores, who said she is licensed to keep wildlife as pets, flew home Sunday when she learned the 8-pound monkey had either been stolen or escaped. "Somebody could have picked her up," she said.

Since then, Flores and friends have scoured her neighborhood near Florence Court searching for the animal. She reported the monkey missing to Holly Hill police, who sent an Animal Control officer to make a report.

She also hired private detective Marc Vescovi to investigate. "We're going to do what we can," said Vescovi, 37. "We have not been able to contact (the friend) as of yet."

Flores said Kiki is well-known at the strip club, where she has flirted with customers for years. She eats fruits, leaves and even pizza, Flores said.

The monkey wears a diaper when she goes out in public, but dislikes other human habits, Flores said. "She hates clothes."

Vescovi said he was trying to get the word out to prevent the monkey from being sold on E-bay or through black market animal dealers. Although he failed to speculate on who might have stolen Kiki, he said he was following leads in the case.

Flores fears money might be one motive if the monkey was stolen. "She's worth thousands," she said. "Kiki is worth top dollar, because of her friendliness."

She spent part of Tuesday night trying to determine how much money she should offer for Kiki's safe return.

Chic's bartender Gia Wetmore said she hoped for the best. "She's so lovable; she's like a baby girl."

Flores said Kiki is sensitive to temperature changes and she fears the monkey won't have the necessary life experience to survive outdoors, away from the stage where topless women strut their stuff for dollar bills.

"She wasn't raised in the wild," she said. "She has no survival skills."

http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1015165&t=Local+News&c=2,1015165
Last Updated: 9:09 pm, Friday, July 18th, 2003

Monkey attack at fair spawns lawsuit
By Todd Ruger

Both sides of the lawsuit call it unusual: Mississippi Valley Fair vendor owns monkey. Monkey allegedly bites woman. Woman sues vendor and the fair.

But the fair general manager said that is only part of the reason why the animal attraction, which allowed fairgoers to take a picture with the monkey or give the creature money just for the amusement of watching it place the cash in an apron, will not return when the 2003 fair begins July 29 in Davenport.

Bob Fox, the fair's general manager, said he likes to rotate vendors every few years and that Gerald Eppel of Texas and his Monkey Business act had been at the fair in 2001 and 2002.

"I'd have him back," Fox said. "He's a good performer. It's a good act. I don't know what happened to the animal."

Scott County resident Leeann Jones has a different opinion, claiming that the monkey owned by Eppel caused scratches and abrasions on her neck while she visited the fair with her son Aug. 4, lawyer William Bribriesco said.

One of three monkeys in the act jumped around, hit her in the head, made noises and bit her as she posed for a photograph, Bribriesco said. There are a couple of photos of it, he added.

"This particular monkey went a little berserk," he said. "We just feel, especially when you've got a vendor like this, and potentially with small children being around, both the vendor and the Mississippi Valley Fair have a duty to make sure it is safe."

Jones went to the doctor the next day, was interviewed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and had to undergo tests for herpes, HIV, hepatitis and rabies, he said.

"She still has not been cleared completely," he said. The monkey pierced the skin and caused abrasions, he added, but the defendants say the monkey had no teeth.

Fox said the monkey carried no diseases, had been given all of its required vaccinations and was wearing a leash.

"People love the little monkey. They just do. It's quite a quaint specialty act that's popular wherever he goes," Fox said, adding that Eppel has been performing for more than 30 years. "Unfortunately, things like this can happen and happened here."

Jones filed suit in April against Eppel and the Mississippi Valley Fair Inc., seeking damages of more than $5,000. The case still is in the early legal stages.

Eppel, the lawsuit states, was negligent "by failing to adequately keep his monkey under control; by failing to properly restrain a wild animal; by violating (a section of the) Iowa Code in reference to unrestrained animals."

The suit claims the fair was negligent in allowing unrestrained wild animals on the premises, by failing to adequately and properly supervise vendors upon the premises and by failing to correct a safety hazard that it knew, or should have known, existed to its patrons.

The lawsuit seeks past and future medical expenses, damages for pain and suffering, including mental anguish, permanent injury and disability, lost wages and future loss of earning capacity.

Todd Ruger can be contacted at (563) 383-2493 or truger@qctimes.com.

The Associated Press State & Local Wire
July 8, 2003, Tuesday, BC cycle
SECTION: State and Regional
Furry primate caught in Buckhannon

A furry fugitive captured near West Virginia Wesleyan College was to be reunited with its owner Tuesday.

The lemur - a primate with big eyes, soft fur and a long tail - apparently escaped from its residence while its owner was out of state. A petsitter reported the lemur missing and the animal was soon spotted near the college.

Police and an animal control officer found the lemur asleep in a tree Saturday.

The animal control officer easily caught the lemur with a noose, said Janella Cochran, manager of the Lewis-Upshur Dog Pound, where the animal was kept after its capture.

Lemurs are indigenous to the Madagascar region but can be kept as pets in the U.S. West Virginia law requires a permit to keep exotic animals, Cochran said Tuesday.

Police have been contacted by the unidentified owner, who planned to pick up the lemur sometime Tuesday, Cochran said.

Buckhannon Police Lt. Darrell Bennett said the owner, who is in the process of moving to the area from Georgia, has been notified that he must get a permit for the animal.

Cochran said the lemur escaped from two separate cages at the shelter before being moved to a plastic kennel.

Cochran said the lemur seems to have a sweet personality, and likes grapes and bananas.

"It's been different," Cochran said of the animal's stay at the shelter. "Dogs and cats are about all we see, but this kind of broke the same old thing."

"We will miss it."

http://wcpo.com/news/2003/local/06/13/jake.html
Monkey Caught After Chase In Elmwood Place

Reported by: 9News
Web produced by: Stacy Puzo
6/13/03 3:04:46 PM

Neighbors in Elmwood Place found themselves in the middle of some real monkey business this morning.

"I was walking to the mailbox and Irene says, that's a big cat and I said, that's not a cat, that's a monkey," said Alice Derrenkamp, neighbor.

What Derrenkamp saw was Jake, a Japanese Snow monkey.

Somehow he managed to escape his home at the corner of Locust and Highland Avenue and then took off running around the neighborhood.

The chase ended when Jake gave into his craving for an ice cream cone.

9News was told Jake is also partial to gummy worms.

Tucson Citizen
May 20, 2003 Tuesday
Escaped monkey wreaks havock

BY: A.J. Flick, Staff, ajflick@tucsoncitizen.com

The capuchin was cute, but teacher Judy Miller was glad to get it out of her house.

By A.J. FLICK

Teacher Judy Miller can handle monkey business in the classroom - she just didn't expect to find it at home.

Miller, who teaches fourth grade at Picture Rocks Intermediate School, was leaving her Northwest Side home for church May 4 when she saw an unusual animal in her yard.

"Of course, your mind just isn't processing the information because it looked like a monkey, but there are no monkeys in the desert," she said. "I thought it was some kind of desert animal."

After Miller returned from church, the sleeping critter was curled up by her back door.

"OK, this is not a wild animal," Miller said to herself. "Wild animals in the desert don't sleep on your back step."

Miller's calls for assistance eventually led to Erin Allan, who rehabilitates wild animals turned into pets and makes them think more like their primal selves before she sends them to more natural settings.

Willie, an 8-year-old capuchin monkey, had been under her care for about four years and was on his way to the Primarily Primates Sanctuary in San Antonio when he panicked and escaped. Allan posted signs in the neighborhood for the lost monkey and was relieved to hear he was safe.

"He did very well," Allan said. "I think because people leave out food and water for javelinas and so forth, he could find sustenance before he moved on."

Allan estimates Willie traveled about two miles over four days to get to Miller's house.

Before Willie's captors arrived, Willie played hard to get. Finally, Miller settled inside to grade papers at her living room table, where she could see Willie napping on her car.

"When he woke up, he started smiling at me," Miller said. "I asked Erin, 'What does it mean when a monkey is grinning at you?' And she said, 'He likes you! He's flirting with you!'

"Pretty soon, he came closer and closer, and finally he put his face up to the glass, and he was just smiling and smiling at me, making all these soft chitter-chatter noises - very obviously flirting. There was a big love affair going on."

The plan was to capture Willie and take him back home. Five minutes, tops. Wrong.

They decided to lure Willie into the house, using Miller as bait, then capture him. But before long, Willie was wreaking havoc in Miller's house while she was trapped in a bedroom with her dog and cats.

Hours later, a tranquilizer gun was used on Willie, but the stubborn primate would not succumb even after three darts. By that time, Willie had gotten into permanent markers and into an ink bottle, leaving paw prints on the carpet and walls.

Finally, Willie was captured with a long pole equipped with a grabber.

"When I walked in my house, it looked like a war zone," said Miller. "I was in shock."

Allan not only helped clean up but also paid for everything, including an oven door that Willie smashed.

The moral of the story, Allan said, is that primates are not pets.

"I'm always battling the false impression that these animals are so cute and so lovely and so wonderful, but they're not," Allan said. "They're dangerous animals. Males get big, and they don't always stay tame."

Willie, Allan reported, is safely in the Texas sanctuary among his own kind, perhaps relating his adventures.

Miller took photos to prove her encounter with Willie.

"I tell people there was a monkey in my house, and everybody's reaction is the same: 'A what?' " Miller said.

"I made a photo album, and it was a hit at school. They passed it around from room to room."

http://www.suntimes.co.za/2003/05/11/news/gauteng/njhb03.asp

Sunday 11 May 2003
Monkey goes ape and bites man's ears
By Masego Lehihi

A Pretoria man had both his ears bitten by a marmoset monkey.

Arthur Knights, 77, from Waverley, north of Pretoria, said the monkey, which is believed to have come from the neighbourhood, jumped on him and ran around his kitchen after he opened his front door.

"He raced up my leg, rushed to my right ear and took a bite out of it, and then raced around my back and took a bite out of my left ear," said Knights.

Although Knights sustained minor injuries, the marmoset monkey suffered more pain as it later bit right through its own hind leg. It now has six stitches and three legs instead of four, after one of the legs had to be amputated.

The 20cm monkeys, which cost R2 500 locally from breeders or pet shops, are known to be a nuisance and 6 000 of them are believed to be in Joburg and Pretoria.

"They're not pets; they're wild animals," said Wendy Macleod, who runs the World Primate Sanctuary, a home for monkeys in Linbro Park.

She called for a ban on keeping them as free-running pets.

The 38-year-old, who has more than 200 monkeys on her property, said the monkeys become deranged because they don't get the opportunity to grow up in the wild.

The marmoset is now recovering at Macleod's sanctuary. She has named it Pringle.

The Arizona Republic
May 3, 2003 Saturday Final chaser Edition
3 DAYS OF MONKEYSHINES ENOUGH, COOLIO RETURNS

BY: By Kate Nolan, Scottsdale Republic

No one knows why Coolio, a 7-year-old Capuchin monkey owned by Danny and Krishna Almond, broke out of his cage, turned the key on the front door and took off last week for a three-day rampage along a wash in Fountain Hills.

The Almonds quickly tacked up signs all over town: "Lost Monkey. This is our Child!! Please call if you have seen him." They placed an ad in The Arizona Republic.

The phone soon chimed. Coolio was in the trees, he was in the wash and in garages, filching countless bottles of designer water. He sneaked into several cars, making off with a bag of potato chips from one and a chapstick from another.

Danny, Krishna and their 2-year-old son Noah, Coolio's best buddy, scoured the neighborhood by car and on foot, always arriving a flash too late.

Coolio, a traditional organ-grinder type monkey, looks like the spindly one that got drunk in Dr. Dolittle. Capuchins are native to the forests of southern Central America, but are adaptable. They usually survive on fruit and insects.

Coolio was less than a year old when Danny Almond, 38, bought him in California, but state law made him an outlaw there. They moved to Arizona in 1994 because it's legal to own a monkey here, although Arizona doesn't allow pet monkeys in public places. They bite and can spread hepatitis types A and B.

Maybe Coolio had cabin fever.

"He was going to be my only child," Danny said. That was before he and Krishna, 29, met four years ago and before Noah came along. The family also includes two dogs and a talking bird.

Danny said he knew that Coolio was safe, because sightings kept being reported. But he worried.

"He knows how to use a ratchet wrench. He knows how to use a screwdriver. He knows too much," Danny said.

Finally, Coolio tired of his game and showed up in a neighbor's driveway earlier this week. When the Almonds rushed over to retrieve him, Coolio sat in the driveway with his arms outstretched to Krishna.

The Almonds brought him home and gave him a bath, and he went right to bed with his favorite teddy bear on the family sofa, Coolio's favorite bed.

http://www.wisinfo.com/heraldtimes/news/archive/local_9966468.shtml
Posted Apr. 25, 2003

Monkey business comes with 2 citations

By Andy Nelesen
Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers

GREEN BAY - Green Bay police want to be done with all the monkey business.

Lt. Bill Galvin said Thursday that police plan to issue two citations to Tracie Cornelius, the owner of a Capuchin monkey that got loose after a trip to an east-side bar.

"We tried to make contact with (Cornelius), but her answering machine message said she was spending quality time with Jasper the monkey," Galvin said. "We will keep trying to make contact with her. We want to talk to her about this."

The municipal tickets - one for having an animal without a permit and another for having an animal at large - each carry a fine of $658.

In an interview with the Press-Gazette on Thursday, Cornelius, 30, said she was not aware of the citations, but had just talked with the city's humane officer about starting the procedure to make Jasper legal.

Until then, Cornelius knows Jasper has to live in exile - outside the city limits - or face $500 a day in fines. Cornelius said she talked with police and other officials before buying the $4,000 critter from a Florida breeder two years ago. She didn't think she needed a permit.

"I talked to the police and never gave another thought about it," Cornelius said. "I went about it like he was legal.

"If I had any inkling he was illegal, why would I call the police to help me find him?"

Galvin said once police make phone contact with Cornelius, they'll mail her the citations. She'll get her day in court and have a chance to argue her side.

Police say the animal raises concerns because monkeys can transmit human diseases and known rabies vaccinations are not as reliable as shots for dogs.

But Galvin said he doesn't expect officers to spend a lot of time dealing with the case.

"In the overall scheme of things, this is really a minor issue," Galvin said. "We're not going to expend a lot of resources on this."

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/news/archive/local_9899766.shtml
Posted Apr. 22, 2003
Monkey on the lam in Green Bay gets its owner in a jam

Official says she doesn't have permit for missing primate
By Paul Srubas, psrubas@greenbaypressgazette.com

So a lady walks into a bar, and she's got this monkey on her shoulder …

No, this isn't a joke setup. It's a story about a missing monkey and the possibly ugly and sad custody battle that likely will ensue if and when the monkey is found.

So let's try it again: Tracie Cornelius of Green Bay walked into the Rock City Pub on East Main Street Saturday, and she had Jasper, a 2-year-old black-capped Capuchin monkey, on her shoulder.

Cornelius, 30, who describes herself as Jasper's "mom," had done this before, and Jasper normally would leave her shoulder to explore but wouldn't stray too far. Only this time, when a bar patron walked in the back door, Jasper seized the moment and dashed through the opening.

"I think he just got scared, and when he got outside, it was raining and everything, so he took off," Cornelius said.

Cornelius and the bar owner, Susie Delfosse, and bar patrons who have come to know Jasper all rushed out to look for the monkey, which was much too fast for all of them.

"He's a little guy, and smart," Delfosse said. "Anywhere that he could get in that's warm, any nook or cranny he could get into, he would."

Now, more than two days later, the search is more than a race against time; it's a race against Green Bay Animal Control Officer Ellen Church, who says Cornelius does not have the required permit to own a monkey. Under Green Bay ordinance, Jasper is an exotic animal, and, as such, requires a special permit, Church said.

"I haven't issued such a permit, nor would I," said Church, who expressed concerns that monkeys can bite. "She can't have it. It will have to be taken into my custody. Whether she gets to it first and I don't find out about it, I don't know, but I'll follow up on it. And if I get a call, I'll try to catch him first."

That comes as a surprise to Cornelius, who thought she needed no license. She bought the animal two years ago over the Internet for $4,000 and said she checked with Green Bay police before the breeders shipped Jasper to her from Florida.

"The police said now that if they find him, they'll hand him over to the humane officer," Cornelius said. "I said, 'What's with this?' But I'm going to find him first."

Searchers will have their hands full, predicted NEW Zoo director Neil Anderson.

"Right now, the monkey has the advantage," he said. "A Capuchin is very intelligent, and he's arboreal, so he's likely to be up in the trees or something. … If he's in a garage, you'll want to look up in the rafters."

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=3&art_id=qw1050044581102B255&set_id=1
Kid loses fingers in Chinese monkey business

April 11 2003 at 09:03AM

Hong Kong - A monkey bit off two fingers of a two-year-old boy who stuck his hand into its cage at the Shanghai Zoo in China, a news report said on Friday.

The toddler crawled through a fence and stretched his hand into the monkey's cage to offer it food when he was taken to the zoo by his aunt and grandmother.

His aunt accused the zoo of negligence, saying the fence was too easy for the toddler to crawl through, the Hong Kong edition of the China Daily reported.

Surgeons reattached the boy's fingers but doctors say his chance of regaining full use of them is only 30 percent, the newspaper said. - Sapa-DPA

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20030314p2a00m0dm002000c.html

Escaped monkey runs amok in Yokohama
(Mainichi Shimbun, March 14, 2003)

YOKOHAMA -- A pet monkey escaped from its owner here and ran around the city, biting four people before it was subdued, police said.

Police received an emergency call at about 2:05 a.m. Thursday saying a monkey was on the loose in a section of Yokohama's Aoba-ku.

A 20-year-old man managed to catch the monkey and hand it over to local police but the monkey bit him in the process, leaving him with light injuries to his right hand. Police said three other residents also reported being bitten after the monkey escaped.

The simian, which belonged to a 38-year-old self-employed man in the ward, was reportedly a Japanese monkey measuring about 80 centimeters in height.

It had reportedly escaped by biting through a 10-meter-long rope with a diameter of about 6 millimeters. The owner was reportedly absent at the time the monkey escaped.

New Straits Times " Features

Health: Danger of keeping primates
Dr S. Vellayan

4 March 2003: Primates should not be kept as pets because they are not only
unpredictable but can also transmit infections such as dysentry, herpes
virus, hepatitis, scabies, helminths and even tuberculosis to humans.

THERE are 12 species of primates in Malaysia. People are fascinated by these animals and keep them as pets because they resemble humans in terms of physical attributes, personalities and social behaviour.

Primates most commonly kept as pets are the long tail macaques, pig tail macaques, lar gibbons, siamang and orang utan.

Generally, they need a lot of attention and are expensive to feed. Every year, primates are offered to Zoo Negara by people, who, after having bought them as pets, eventually found them unmanageable. In 1986, about 30 such primates were given to Zoo Negara. Monkeys and the larger apes are easily enraged, strong, temperamental, unpredictable and dangerous. They will readily attack and bite. Completely tame and trustworthy monkeys are rare.

Infections which have been transmitted from primates to humans include dysentry, the herpes virus, hepatitis, scabies, helminths and probably tuberculosis while amoebiasis, rabies and fungal skin infections are rarely transmitted.

Doctors puzzled by the origin of such infections would do well to ask, especially of children with severe encephalitis, whether they have been in contact with a pet money or been to a zoo.

The herpes virus (Herpes B) is transmitted through contact with apparently healthy monkeys such as the macaques through bites, scratches and contamination of the wounds with monkey saliva or tissue.

Typically, the illness starts about seven to 14 days after a bite or scratch, often with vesicles and pain at the site of injury. There is also inflammation of the lymph nodes, with cold sores on lips and tongues.

Monkeys are susceptible to rabies, which is usually spread by the bite of an infected animal. So far, about 16 cases of rabies in primates, which results in disturbances in the central nervous system, have been reported.

Young Macaca is susceptible to the measles virus, acquired from contact with humans suffering from it. The animal in turn will spread the virus around. Other hosts include the squirrel monkeys, macaques and gibbons. Symptoms in both animals and Man are skin rash, conjunctivitis, fever and facial swelling.

Shigella affecting the primates such as gibbons and orang utans readily infects Man. Fortunately the transmission of the organism to humans is rare. The three common species of shigella organism are Shigella flexneri, Shigella Sonnei and Shigella Schmitzi. The symptoms to be seen in both animals and Man are stomach and intestinal bleeding.

The fatality of the disease was noted in a case when a child licked an ice cream touched by a monkey in a pet shop. In another case, a child died from shigellosis after eating a cake which had been partially eaten by a monkey. Workers in laboratories and zoos are aware of the danger and they take adequate precautions.

Salmonella is common in monkeys, gibbons and orang utans, with animal to animal transmission through water and faecal contamination.

Man, too, can easily acquire the infections from pet monkeys, who are "carriers'. Similarly, human carriers may pass the salmonella bacteria to monkeys directly or indirectly as has occurred in most Asian zoos. The symptoms vary from mild intestinal bleeding to rapid and fatal blood poisoning.

Monkeys are also highly susceptible to the human, bovine and avian tubercle bacilli, which may result in sudden respiratory arrest, with fine lesions on the skin, bones and internal organs.

The Expert Committee on Zoonoses of the WHO/FAO refers to monkeys as the most important source of human tuberculosis infection after cattle. In Malaysia, primate tuberculosis is very rare.

Meanwhile, the causative organism of meliodosis is pseudomonas pseudomallei. This dissease has been reported in all Malaysian primates except the slow loris and proboscis monkeys. This is an important zoonotic disease for Malaysians as its outbreak has been reported in local zoos and primate colonies.

This disease is pathogenic to man and the clinical signs are acute bleeding in the stomach and intestines and blood poisoning.

Endoparasitic diseases such as pinworms, tapeworms, whipworm and roundworms are not serious problems as they can be treated easily. The hosts (which include Man), are apes, langurs and macaques, amongst others. The symptoms vary from dysentry, chronic diarrhoea to anaemia.

The common protozoal zoonotic diseases are amoebiasis, balantidiasis, giardiasis and malaria. The hosts are apes, macaque and monkeys while the clinical signs are usually diarrhoea which may be accompanied by mucus and blood. In the case of malaria, high temperature and anaemia are detected.

In Malaysia, sporadic cases of these diseases are reported in humans. Zoonotic filariasis also occur in Malaysia.

Veterinarians should discourage the public from keeping monkeys and apes as they drain the natural population and do not make good pets. Today's gentle pet may give a nasty bite tomorrow.

http://www.dallasnews.com/localnews/stories/030203dnmetmonkey.5fdd5.html

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