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

What's best for Leroy?
Owners want custody of monkey; city says he needs better home

03/02/2003
By COLLEEN McCAIN NELSON / The Dallas Morning News

Leroy hasn't been the same since he found himself in the middle of a custody dispute.

The 6-year-old has little interest in his toys and spends much of his time pouting in the corner.

Both sides say they just want Leroy to be happy and healthy.

But Dallas city officials and Leroy's owners don't agree on what's best for the golden spider monkey.

For six years, Blake Deeter and Joe Williams raised the little monkey with the big brown eyes. After buying Leroy from a breeder, the roommates centered their lives on the monkey who cried when they left the house and waited by the window for them to return.

"You basically adapt your life to the monkey," Mr. Deeter said. "We don't travel because we can't leave him. We don't have people over."

City officials said monkeys aren't meant to be pets and are prohibited by city ordinance. Animal control seized Leroy in December after he got loose in his owners' Oak Cliff neighborhood.

The city, which does not have the facilities or personnel needed to care for a monkey, sent Leroy to live in an animal center in Plano. Dallas officials said they plan to seek custody of Leroy and eventually place him in an animal sanctuary, even if that requires taking their case to court.

Leroy's owners said they want their monkey and are prepared to move to a city that will allow them to keep their longtime companion.

For now, Leroy lives in a large cage at the Living Materials Center in Plano. A sign warns visitors that he suffers from rickets, paralysis and "un-monkey behavior."

"He was never allowed to act like a monkey in captivity," said Jim Dunlap, curator of the center. "He was probably coddled and cuddled like a child."

Monkeys simply are not suited to live in houses with humans, even when their owners have the best intentions, he said.

"Owning a monkey is like having a 2-year-old child that never gets older, can fly, and has diarrhea," Mr. Dunlap said.
Monkeys are unpredictable and can attack without warning, he said.

Mr. Deeter said he did research on Leroy's care and feeding and monkey-proofed the house, changing the doorknobs after the monkey learned to open cabinets and unlock doors.

Life with Leroy was a challenge some days, but an entertaining one. The monkey enjoyed answering the telephone, but he didn't have much to say to callers, Mr. Deeter said.

"We trained him to the best of our ability," he said. "Leroy got attention all the time."

For more than two months, the city and Leroy's owners have been in a verbal tug-of-war over the monkey. The one issue that both sides can agree on is that Leroy is sad and is struggling to adjust to his new surroundings.

Although he has a spacious cage with room to swing and climb, Leroy spends much of his time in a corner with a towel draped over his head.

"We've tried to interact with him, but he's untrusting," Mr. Dunlap said. "We've given him toys, but he doesn't know what to do with them."

Mr. Deeter said Leroy just wants to go home.

"I can't imagine what he's thinking ­ we've never left him before," he said. "I wonder if he thinks we abandoned him."

The house seems empty without Leroy, Mr. Deeter said. He and Mr. Williams have taken down their photos of Leroy and put away his toys and food bowls.

"It's sad even to look at pictures," Mr. Deeter said. "We don't even know what to do at this point."

He and Mr. Williams said city officials have been less than honest with them throughout this ordeal. Animal control employees originally told them that Leroy would be released if they could show that he was being transferred to a location that allowed monkeys, Mr. Deeter said.

Mr. Williams said he made plans to move to Louisiana, where his parents live. He obtained a letter from a wildlife game warden there, stating that monkeys were permitted in the state.

Mr. Deeter said they have tried to comply with the city's requests. But animal control employees have been unwilling to take many of their phone calls and have provided little information about Leroy's status.

"I just get shuffled around from one voice mail to another," he said. "The city tells you one thing and then does something entirely different."

Steve Clark, field supervisor for animal control, said the department is conducting an ongoing investigation. The city's findings suggest that Leroy's health has been jeopardized by his owners, he said.

"He's been horribly imprinted ­ he doesn't know he's a monkey," Mr. Clark said. "My goal is to get this monkey into a humane, caring environment."

Mr. Dunlap said Leroy suffered from nutritional deficiencies and internal parasites when he arrived in Plano. Leroy doesn't know how to interact with other monkeys, he said.

"He couldn't hold his own in a troop," he said. "He's ruined."

Leroy's owners said they think his health is deteriorating because he is depressed.

"I'm afraid he is going to get sick just from being alone," Mr. Williams said. "He is not used to that at all." Mr. Deeter said they took great care to feed Leroy properly and to monitor his health.

At the Living Materials Center, Leroy gobbles up bowls of apples, grapes, carrots, broccoli and "monkey chow." He pays little attention to his caretakers, but Mr. Dunlap can coax him to the side of his cage with a few bits of cereal.

If the city wins custody of Leroy, Mr. Dunlap said he would help officials find the monkey a home in a primate sanctuary.
Mr. Clark said he plans to ask the owners to sign over their rights to Leroy. If they refuse, the city will seek custody in court, he said.

"We dislike having to be the big, bad wolf, but our ultimate goal is the health and safety of the animal," Mr. Clark said. "If I've got to make somebody mad, I'll do that."

Mr. Deeter said they are prepared to fight for Leroy.

"We've changed our lives for this monkey," he said. "We just want him back."

Kansas City Star
February 12, 2003, Wednesday METROPOLITAN EDITION

Settlement ends monkey bite case
By BILL GRAHAM; The Kansas City Star

A Platte County boy has received a $148,000 settlement because he was bitten by a monkey and had to take rabies shots after owners would not surrender it for testing.

The case also changed Missouri law regarding animal bites.

Ethan Sickman was 7 years old when he was bitten by a rhesus monkey on July 18, 2000. The monkey was owned by Steve and Shelly Bowen, the Sickman family's next-door neighbors in unincorporated Platte County, west of Parkville.

Ethan's parents, Larry and Lori Sickman, sought medical treatment for their son and were told that he would have to receive rabies shots unless the monkey was tested and proven negative.

Rabies testing requires the animal's death. The Bowens refused to surrender the monkey for tests, according to Sickmans and Platte County officials.

"We've put the matter behind us," Shelly Bowen said Tuesday, adding that the family would have no further comment, on the advice of their attorney.

When Ethan was bitten, the county's health codes covered only bites by dogs, cats and ferrets. State law also did not address bites by animals such as monkeys.

Because of that, authorities could not seize the animal for testing.

Larry Sickman said the shots were terribly painful for his son.

"It's unfortunate there had to be a settlement to go after," Sickman said. "If they had turned over the animal for testing, there
probably would have been no lawsuit and no expenses."

The case prompted Sidney Johnson of Buchanan County and Meg Harding of Platte County, a former state senator and state representative, respectively, to get legislation approved in 2001regarding exotic pets.

State officials now can authorize local law jurisdictions to impound and test any animal that has bitten humans, said Howard Pue, public health veterinarian for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. Some local governments also require testing. But if they don't, the state will.

The Sickman family made several trips to Jefferson City to testify about the issue before the legislation passed.

"It didn't do us any good," Larry Sickman said. "But anybody facing this in the future, it will help them."

Ethan, now 10, is doing well, Larry Sickman said. Ethan also has been tested for a simian virus transmittable to humans. There always will be some uncertainty about whether the virus will emerge later, his father said.

In a lawsuit filed in Platte County Circuit Court, the Sickmans said Ethan had suffered because of the bite and the treatments, and that they had incurred medical expenses. They alleged that they had been harassed by the Bowens after the dispute arose.

Also, they allege that the monkey that bit Ethan died, and that the Bowens obtained a second monkey and allowed it to be unrestrained in the yard.

The Sickmans were seeking damages greater than $25,000 on three counts and punitive damages of $2 million.

The settlement was approved Jan. 27 by Circuit Judge Lee Hull, according to court documents.

http://www.plattecountylandmark.com/Article438.htm
Boy bitten by neighbor's monkey given $150,000
February 12, 2003
by Ivan Foley
Landmark editor

A Platte County boy who was bitten on the arm by a neighbor's pet monkey has been awarded a settlement of $150,000, and the boy's parents will receive an additional $25,000.

The settlement in the lawsuit of Ethan Sickman, a minor, and his parents, Larry and Lori Sickman, vs. Steve Bowen and Shelly Bowen, was approved last week in Platte County Circuit Court by Judge Owens Lee Hull.

Both families reside on NW 76th St., Kansas City in Platte County.

Sickmans maintained that the Bowens's pet Rhesus monkey had bitten Ethan Sickman on July 18, 2000 while Ethan was riding his bike on his own property. The family said the monkey had accompanied the Bowens' child into the Sickman's yard on that day. The monkey jumped from a tree in the yard onto a fence, then onto the boy and bit him on the shoulder, said John Cady, a Platte City attorney with the firm of Cady and Campbell, who represented the Sickman family in the lawsuit.

Ethan was eight-years-old at the time of the bite. Court papers alleged that after the bite took place, the Bowens were informed Ethan would have to be given rabies shots unless they surrendered the monkey for a test for rabies.

The only way to examine a monkey for rabies, Cady said, is for the monkey to be euthanized and tests to be run on its brain. Knowing this, the neighbors refused to turn over the monkey for testing and Ethan was forced to undergo the rabies shots.

Court papers say that the rabies vaccinations that Ethan was required to obtain caused him pain and suffering, and that he may require additional medical treatment in the future. It was alleged Ethan suffered emotional and mental distress, pain and suffering.

Ethan also was tested for the Herpes B virus, Cady said. So far tests have shown he does not have the disease, which can be fatal if not detected and treated early, he said.

The lawsuit claimed the Rhesus monkey had a vicious and/or dangerous propensity to injure persons, and the defendants knew or should have known-by using ordinary care-of the monkey's propensity to injure persons.

Court papers indicate after the biting incident, bad feelings allegedly developed from the Bowen family toward the Sickmans. After the death of the monkey that bit Ethan, the Bowens obtained a second Rhesus monkey and the Sickmans claimed it was not any better restrained than the previous animal.

Sickmans said they were subjected to loud, disparaging and obscene remarks being made by the Bowens in voices loud enough to be heard at the Sickman residence. They also claimed the Bowens drove ATV vehicles up and down the property line between the two homes, creating loud noise and dust which was disturbing to the Sickmans and their guests.

Court papers indicate the Sickmans also claimed that defendant Steve Bowen intentionally appeared naked on his deck, which faces the Sickman residence. They alleged Bowen intentionally urinated off the deck in the direction of the Sickman residence while Lori Sickman was outside in her yard adjacent to the deck.

Cady said the actions of the defendants were "willful, wanton and malicious and showed complete indifference to or conscience disregard for the safety of others and such conduct was outrageous."

Details of the settlement approved by the court call for Ethan to get $10,000 per year for four years beginning when he turns age 18. He'll get another $20,000 when he turns age 25 and then $90,000 when he turns age 30.

Ethan's parents get an additional $25,000 in nuisance fees. In addition, attorney's fees the Sickmans incurred in the amount of about $59,900 must be covered by the defendants.

The financial obligations will be the responsibility of Steve and Shelly Bowen and/or their insurance company.

Rhesus monkeys for a time were a "fad kind of a pet," Cady said. He said many primate experts are of the opinion the monkeys belong in a zoo with well trained and experienced handlers.

Lifespan of a Rhesus monkey being kept in captivity is about 30 years, according to web sites dealing with the species. In the wild, the monkeys live only about four years.

They feed on seeds, roots, buds, fruit, invertebrates, bark and cereals. They can be 12-14 inches tall and weigh up to 14 pounds.

Rhesus monkeys were the first primates to be rocketed into space.

After his son was bitten by he unrestrained monkey, Larry Sickman campaigned for changes in Missouri law that would put restrictions on the owners of such pets. With the help of then-State Sen. Sidney Johnson, legislation was passed that now requires the monkeys to be registered with animal control. The law also makes owners fully responsible for any testing and any medical bills that may arise.

Larry Sickman said he doesn't like the idea of suing someone, but that his family was put in that position.

"We had no choice. My son was wronged and we had to make it right. Since the law would not stand up for us, we had to make a stand," he said.

The Advocate (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)
January 15, 2003, Wednesday METRO EDITION
Eby, the escaped pet monkey, caught

RACELAND - A pet capuchin monkey that escaped from its cage Friday and was running loose all weekend was captured safely Monday and taken to a Florida primate center.

Eby, found in the vicinity of the Butch Hill boat launch, was taken into custody by officials with the Jungle Friends Primate Center of Gainesville, Fla., Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre said.

Before he escaped, Eby was living in a cage at the home of Angela Walker on Church Street.

Eby, only 2 feet tall and missing two front teeth, reportedly was spotted by many Lafourche Parish residents during the weekend. Eby did not injure anyone, and his captors did not injure the monkey.

Capuchin monkeys, gray and known as "organ-grinder" monkeys, normally live in South and Central America. In the wild, capuchins live on a diet of spiders, snails, lizards, small birds, roots and fruits.

The Associated Press State & Local Wire
September 25, 2002, Wednesday, BC cycle
Despite heart surgery, exotic animal owner searches for monkey; BY: By J. WES YODER, The Anniston Star

Friday, Robin Kirk returned home from the hospital after a two-heart attack, two-operation, two-week stay.

A day later, in the hour after midnight, Kirk was wandering through the woods near Alexandria with a spotlight, searching through a rainstorm for his 6-year-old black-cap monkey, Skipper.

When you own 110 exotic animals, and you know them by name and they know your voice, losing your favorite pet, the one you love more than all the rest, is a pain that you cannot take to the emergency room. "Like getting shot between the eyes," said Kirk, an owner and caretaker of unusual animals, who continued to look for Skipper on Wednesday.

Kirk had been talking daily to the monkey from the hospital on a speakerphone until doctors moved him to intensive care. He believes the monkey fled its home because of separation anxiety.

"I figure he went looking for me," said Kirk, a hollow look in his eyes.

He has already buried one monkey, Buster Kirk, a 2-year-old who accidentally hanged himself.

Buster's headstone reads, "The most loved and missed monkey in the world."

Most of Kirk's animals - black buck antelope, Tibetan yaks, zonnies (a crossbreed of a male zebra and a miniature female horse), wallabies, reindeer, and Hawaiian shorthaired black sheep, to name a few - live outside in carefully kept pens with storm shelters. But Skipper, three dogs, a baby wallaby, a baboon and two African Gray Congo parrots who can sing "Jesus Loves Me" and four Hank Williams songs, form the inner circle of Kirk's animal kingdom. They live in his home and eat from his hand.

"Like family," he said. "I've never had any children."

"Last week, doctors didn't think they'd bring me back, said Kirk, a 59-year-old, retired advertising executive who has had eight heart attacks. "But I knew they would, because God put me here to take care of these critters."

While they worked on his heart, they gave him an order that nearly broke it - no more talking on the phone. Kirk feared Skipper, whom he had bottle-fed from birth, would not be able to cope with the separation.

Three days later, on Thursday, Skipper hopped past an assistant caretaker while she was feeding him, and scurried out of sight. Kirk's homecoming the next day felt more like a funeral than a celebration.

For days now he has been looking for Skipper, driving slowly the broken roads around Alexandria in his Ford diesel dually. Far-off dogs and cats catch his eye, but they are treasures not lost, treasures not his.

Kirk fears time is getting short. West Alexandria is no place for a monkey with special dietary needs.

"Maybe some berries, maybe some bugs, I don't know if he could crack some nuts," Kirk reasons, saying monkey biscuits, shipped from Missouri, are a staple of Skipper's diet. "I'm afraid we only got about a day or so."

Saturday night, someone spotted Skipper in a tree. By the time Kirk got there, the monkey had fled.

"He's a very sweet monkey, but no one needs to try to catch him. They need to call me," he said.

When Kirk walks into a pen, stopping occasionally to rest his weary body, the animals circle around him. He calls them by name. He knows their birthdays. The two-hump camel, Oscar, greets him with a kiss.

But taking care of a monkey is a much greater commitment, Kirk said, adding it's a commitment some people don't understand.

"Owning a monkey is like having a 2-year-old on speed that will live to be 80," he said. "You want to go to Panama City for the weekend? You got to find a sitter. It's not easy to find a sitter for a monkey."

Kirk regularly takes some of his animals to church nativity scenes. At a nursing home in Jackson County, where he has taken Skipper, Oscar and some miniature horses for the last several years, some of the women have started going to the beauty parlor the morning before the animals visit.

One woman in the nursing home had not spoken for four years, Kirk said. "She had crawled into her shell. But when she saw Skipper run in, she started talking and has talked ever since."

Life without Skipper is a possibility that Kirk is not ready to face. "Coming home has been rough. Real rough," he said.

He will keep driving the bumpy, twisting roads, day and night, he said, as long as he can hope.

"Hope is all I got."

For now, he only stops briefly, to rest his weak and tired heart.

Each day, though, he drives a little farther.

"By now, he could be past Ohatchee."

Chimp in zoo tries to drag away Chinese boy
BEIJING, Sept 10 2002

A chimpanzee at a zoo in eastern China tried to drag a four-year-old boy into his enclosure, prompting a 10-minute wrestle with passers-by who sought to free the child, state media reported Monday.

The boy's ordeal began when he tried to hand the chimp a piece of bread at Hangzhou Zoo in Zhejiang Province, the Xinhua news agency said.

The ape sank its teeth into the child's right arm and tried to drag him away, the agency said, quoting local media reports.

A neighbour, who had taken the child for the weekend trip to the zoo, along with other people nearby, had to pull the boy back, but it took a 10-minute "fight" to free him.

The child suffered injuries to his arm which could affect the function of his wrist and thumb, Xinhua said.

While the boy, named as Cheng Cheng, was in shock -- "The chimp is terrible and I dare not to visit it again" he reportedly said after an operation on his arm -- zoo officials said the public should not feed the animals.

http://www.courierpostonline.com/news/southjersey/m090702b.htm
Saturday, September 7, 2002

Wash. Twp. residents face fines over monkey

By TIM ZATZARINY JR.
Courier-Post Staff
WASHINGTON TWP.

Martino Cartier never thought Moochie the monkey would come back to haunt him.

Two years ago, Cartier, the owner of a local beauty salon, bought the capuchin monkey from a licensed breeder in Pennsylvania for $5,000.

When Cartier realized two months later he wouldn't be able to get a permit in New Jersey to keep Moochie, he resold the monkey to a fellow township resident.

This week, the state Division of Fish and Wildlife charged Cartier with possessing the monkey without a permit and illegally selling it.

Unlicensed capuchin monkeys are banned in New Jersey because the state considers them a potentially dangerous species. Their sale also is illegal in the state.

The resident who bought Moochie, Diane Caltabiano, also was cited this week for illegally possessing the monkey.

Acting on an anonymous tip, state and federal authorities seized Moochie from Caltabiano's Raymond Drive home on Aug. 25. That day, according to Cartier, authorities also asked to search his home and accused him of being a dealer of the exotic monkeys, which he denies.

"They're trying to treat me like a criminal," he said in an interview this week at his business, Martino's Salon XI. "I don't understand it. I owned the monkey for two months."

Cartier, 27, contends he didn't know it was illegal for him to sell the monkey in New Jersey.

He bought Moochie, then just a few weeks old, in February 2000 as a pet for his toddler son. The child played with the monkey without incident, Cartier said.

Moochie also visited Cartier's shop on Egg Harbor Road, where he entertained customers.

"I just want people to know I didn't bring a smuggled, Old World monkey into my business," Cartier said.

Shortly after he bought Moochie, Cartier applied for an exhibitor's permit, which would have allowed him to keep the monkey provided he put it on public display.

His request was denied and he decided to sell Moochie, even though the monkey had become like a member of the family, he said.

Cartier said he tried to return Moochie to the breeders, but they were willing to give him only half of his original purchase price.

He then sold the monkey to Caltabiano.

Cartier and Caltabiano face fines ranging from $250 to $5, 000 on each charge.

Cartier is scheduled to appear in Washington Township Municipal Court on Sept. 25.

Caltabiano did not return calls seeking comment.

Capuchin monkeys, which are native to South America, are considered potentially dangerous because they have sharp canine teeth that can cause injuries, said Al Ivany, a spokesman for the state Division of Fish and Wildlife.

Primates are also known to carry diseases, such as the deadly Ebola virus, that can be passed to humans.

"It's incumbent on people who are getting an exotic pet to see if it's legal to have it in New Jersey," Ivany said.

Cartier and Caltabiano aren't the first Gloucester County residents to get mixed up in some recent monkey business.

In February, the state seized another capuchin monkey, Curious George, from the Harrison home of Debra Ann Stipp.

After Stipp sued the state to get Curious George back, he was returned in June on the condition that she apply for an exhibitor's license and agree to put him on public display several times a year.

Ivany said that as of Friday, Caltabiano had not applied for a similar permit.

Moochie is being held at a licensed facility in New Jersey, according to Ivany.

He said the seizure of illegal capuchin monkeys in New Jersey is rare and it's merely a coincidence that two of the primates were taken from Gloucester County this year.

Cartier said he'll likely plead not guilty to the charges against him.

"I never would have thought I might be fined $10,000 for buying a monkey," he said. "It's crazy."

Reach Tim Zatzariny Jr. at (856) 845-4617 or tzatzariny@courierpostonline.com

http://phoenixnewtimes.com/issues/2002-08-29/news2.html/1/index.html

29 August 2002

Chimp on His Shoulder
An exotic-animal broker says Arizona's 'monkey rules' are forcing him out
By Susy Buchanan

A glance at the online inventory of Peoria-based Wild Animal World reads like a passenger manifest for Noah's Ark.

Claiming to be the largest dealer in exotic animals in the United States, Wild Animal World can deliver almost any species imaginable to your doorstep, whether it be a Watusi ($2,500) a 3-month-old female giraffe ($45,000), a hand-raised buffalo ($1,000), a pair of breeding jaguars ($7,000), a female red kangaroo ($4,000), a 9-week-old Bengal tiger cub ($18,000) or an albino skunk ($200).

Wild Animal World's biggest business is in monkeys, though, from white-throated capuchins to snow macaques, marmosets and spider monkeys, ranging in price from $1,100 to $9,000 each.

But the regulations imposed by the State of Arizona on Wild Animal World two years ago have founder Randall Davies and his fiancee, Memory Price, packing up their business this week and relocating to Nevada, where restrictions on the primate trade, they say, aren't such a monkey on their backs.

"Two years ago, this lady at the State Vet's office ruined it for everyone," Davies complains.

The lady is Dr. Mira Leslie, an authority on exotics and primates and the public health veterinarian for the State of Arizona. In 1999, Leslie, alarmed at an increase in bites and other incidents involving pet monkeys, compiled enough statistics to convince the state Game and Fish Department to tighten the regulations on the monkey trade in Arizona.

The revised rule requires that monkeys be half-grown before they're bought or sold, and that they be fully tested for species-hopping diseases, particularly herpes B -- a virus that is fatal to humans and carried by 80 to 90 percent of macaques in the wild.

Disease, Davies says, has never been a problem, but having to sell half-grown monkeys is. To make matters worse, he adds, Game and Fish's so-called "Monkey Bite" rule prohibits monkeys from leaving their owners' property and venturing out into public.

"Before, we would take them river rafting, to drive-in movies, to the lake and go fishing, water-skiing, to the bank, every public place that wasn't a food establishment," Davies recalls. "Like Hooters, yeah, Hooters. We used to sit out on the patio there and have a lot of fun. . . We never had any problems."

But other people did. In a study conducted in 1997 by the Centers for Disease Control with the help of Dr. Leslie, seven cases of monkey bites or scratches were examined, and three of them revealed the presence of herpes B. Moreover, four of those seven incidents occurred in Arizona, including one involving an infected, 7-week-old, diaper-wearing cynomolgus who shared chewing gum with its owners and bit an adult at a bar. Another Arizona case involved a macaque, one of eight at an unlicensed day-care center, who bit a child severely. Still another referred to a 2-year-old cynomolgus who climbed over a fence to bite a neighbor child's toe and buttocks.

Jim Devos, chief of research at Game and Fish, explains the reasons behind the December 1999 amendment: "When we were originally discussing adopting the Monkey Bite' rule, we were getting 40 reports of bites a year. Since it went into effect, we are seeing about one a month."

Davies still maintains that monkeys make fine pets. But there are no simians swinging from the trees or tigers prowling his yard in the quiet neighborhood just off Peoria Avenue. Davies doesn't keep the animals he advertises for sale on hand anymore. He is instead a go-between, a broker between individuals and institutions looking to buy or sell exotic breeds.

Although Davies transferred the business to his fiancee in January, he still talks like he's got both hands on the wheel. "I've been in the business for 20 years," he says. "First I had monkeys as pets, then I bought a monkey business that was for sale. It started in the basement with lab cages and grew to a ranch with real nice cages."

His career as a monkey trader, however, has not been without controversy.

Davies once owned Monkeys Unlimited, a Cincinnati-based primate clearinghouse that ran ads in USA Today in the late '80s, advertising monkeys for sale. A 1999 book on exotic-animal trafficking, Animal Underworld, describes Davies' business as "a notorious primate mail order operation run out of a filthy Cincinnati warehouse." Author Alan Green also claims that Davies "dumped huge quantities of baby monkeys into the pet trade," before shutting down in Ohio in 1991 and moving to Phoenix.

"We were only in that shop for three months," Davies responds, "then we moved to a beautiful ranch. And what does he mean by dumping monkeys'? People purchased them."

Regardless, Davies claims that it was overregulation, and not bad press, that ruined his Peoria enterprise. Davies estimates he sells between two and seven monkeys a month, which he says is considerably lower than his pre-"Monkey Bite" volume.

"Arizona used to be a great place to sell monkeys, and it still would be, except I can only sell half-grown monkeys, so we don't even bother with marketing or selling here anymore."

His client base, he says, includes politicians, private citizens and celebrities. "I just sold a monkey to Hugh Hefner last week, a capuchin," he claims. Interest in exotic pets has been high in recent years, and if it weren't for Arizona's draconian policies, he says, he'd still have tigers and baboons as pets. But Davies doesn't have any exotics at all anymore, not even Alfy, the overalls-clad baboon clinging to Randy on the back of an ATV in pictures on his Web site. "I got rid of Alfy last year," he says. "We're trying to get everything ready to move."

Davies and Price have looked at several areas in Nevada and will drive out next week, hoping for 100 acres or so next to a river. There, they'll start up again, unfettered by regulations.

"There are thousands of people like me across the country who want to have exotic animals," Davies says. "The animals need us. Their countries are being destroyed. Fires destroy the rain forest; in some countries, poachers are still poaching off of reserve areas. And farmlands, the farmers kill the monkeys because they eat their vegetables, and they kill the cats because they eat their livestock.

In our country, we keep them and breed them and care for them. If it weren't for this country, we wouldn't have some of these animals today."

http://www.news-star.com/stories/082202/New_58.shtml
Shawnee Oklahoma, News Star
Thursday, August 22, 2002
Woman has to give up exotic pets
TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- Patricia Shaver needs to find a home for about 10 exotic monkeys and lemurs.
A county zoning board recently ruled that Shaver can't keep more than six exotic animals in her home east of Sand Springs after a neighbor complained that the animals have escaped from their cages and are dangerous.
Although Shaver will give up her monkeys and lemurs, she's calling the decision a victory.
Shaver feared that the board would not permit her to keep her animals at all.
"We are very grateful," she said.
Shaver has 22 animals. About half are considered exotic and can not be kept on her property. She will be allowed to keep all of her non-exotic animals.
Shaver, who is blind, has been rescuing exotic animals, including some that had been injured or are disabled.
With her partner, Bill Allison, Shaver has seven breeds of small monkeys, three lemurs, four South American raccoons, three dogs, a duck, a miniature horse, baby doll sheep, an African parrot and a blind wallaby.
The house is equipped with outdoor monkey cages and tunnels that allow the animals to go in the house.
The couple and their monkeys are a familiar sight at local elementary schools.
Two of their monkeys appeared in a Tulsa Performing Arts Center production of "Inherit the Wind."
But complaints from a neighbor are ending the animal haven at Shaver's home.
"I don't think it's right," said neighbor Katherine Lamb.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=4999745&BRD=1569&PAG=461&dept_id=180945&rfi=6

Mauling monkey to be deported to Oklahoma
By: Rachelann Ferris, Courier staff
August 09, 2002

A 7-year-old Macaque monkey that attacked three Montgomery County residents in June will be shipped back to the Oklahoma breeder where he was born, a judge ruled Thursday morning.

According to Montgomery County Animal Control Field Supervisor John Geiser, the monkey attacked three people, including owner Judy Williams of Magnolia, during an incident June 23.

The Macaque monkey, named Presley, attacked a 9-year-old neighborhood boy in front of the Williams' home in the 17200 block of Jui Lane in Magnolia. At some point, Presley also bit Williams and a Magnolia firefighter who had been called to the scene to help contain the primate.

"The reports we have so far are that it was unprovoked," said Geiser, who said the monkey was not registered with Montgomery County Animal Control, which is required by law. The boy and Williams were bitten by the monkey, while the firefighter was scratched severely enough to break the skin. All three were taken to a local hospital, where they were treated for the injuries.

After the monkey's 30-day quarantine period was completed, Williams appeared before 221st state District Judge Suzanne Stovall Thursday to discuss the fate of the creature.

Williams agreed to relinquish ownership of the monkey back to the Oklahoma breeder from which she had purchased Presley. Presley will be placed in the company's education program.

Macaque monkeys, also called Java monkeys, are native to southeast Asia and weigh an average of 30-40 pounds, with males generally weighing more than females.

Since Oct. 10, 1975, the importation of nonhuman primates has been prohibited by Public Health Service quarantine regulations, except for scientific, educational or exhibition purposes by importers registered with the Centers for Disease Control and are not admissible as pets in the United States because such animals are common carriers of disease, including hepatitis, herpes, and AIDS.

Presley turned out to be disease-free monkey during the quarantine period, officials said.

Saint Paul Pioneer Press
August 8, 2002 Thursday

Zoo volunteer to receive rabies shots

A volunteer at the BEARCAT Hollow animal park must receive a series of rabies shots after being bitten by a monkey.

Jade Landgrebe, 21, told authorities that she was bitten on the finger Sunday when she entered the monkey's cage.

Landgrebe, who has volunteered at the animal park for three years, said she had given the monkey named JoJo a hug and was putting it back in the cage when it grabbed her hair, according to Mower County Sheriff Barry Simonson.

When she tried to free herself, the monkey bit her on the little finger of her left hand. The one-inch wound required five stitches, and Landgrebe was held for observation at Saint Marys Hospital in Rochester. She was reported in fair condition Tuesday.

According to a sheriff's report, Landgrebe said she was willing to take the rabies shots instead of killing the monkey so it could be tested.

Earlier this summer, security improvements were completed at BEARCAT Hollow, where a tiger attacked a girl last summer and a young bear escaped in December. The 25-acre zoo's name is an acronym that stands for Beautiful Endangered And Rare Conservation And Therapy. It has about 300 animals.

Monkey bites investigated
By Chery Sabol, The Daily Inter Lake
Tue 6 Aug 2002

A pet monkey that has bitten several people in the valley has raised health concerns.

"We know of three for sure, maybe four" victims, said nurse Dan Dickman of the city-county health department.

The monkey is a 5-pound macaque whose owner has brought it into public places, Dickman said.

The owner hasn't been charged with any violations and isn't named. But his pet quickly earned a reputation.

"The thing is very territorial. It ended up biting people," Dickman said.

One incident was at a restaurant at the Whitefish mall. Another, possibly involving two people, was at The Apple Barrel Fruit Stand Inc. on U.S. 2 near the airport. Another case was reported at a residence.

The bites were deep enough to break the skin on victims, raising concerns about disease transmission, Dickman said.

"We're worried about it," he said.

Concerns include tetanus, herpes B, tuberculosis, rabies and hepatitis B, Dickman said.

The monkey has been sent to Great Falls to be quarantined, he said. Test samples have gone to Loma Linda, Calif., for analysis, he said.

Macaques legally cannot be shipped into the country "because they are a carrier of diseases that can be passed on to humans," Dickman said. The animals are used in laboratory tests.

This monkey is the descendant of several generations of breeding in this country, Dickman said.

Two of the people who were bitten went in for immediate medical treatment, he said. All are awaiting test results on the monkey.

The greatest concern is transmission of herpes B.

"They call it the monkey virus," Dickman said.

Though rare, the virus kills 70 percent of people who contract it, he said. "Herpes B is scary," he said.

Animal warden Richard Stockdale was unavailable Monday for comment. County Attorney Tom Esch said there are ordinances against having a vicious dog, but none against owning a savage simian.

"I haven't ruled out endangerment" charges, Esch said Monday.

Reporter Chery Sabol may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at
csabol@dailyinterlake.com

The Associated Press State & Local Wire
August 6, 2002, Tuesday, BC cycle

A pet monkey that has bitten several people in the Flathead Valley has raised both health and legal concerns.

"We know of three for sure, maybe four" victims, said Dan Dickman, a City-County Health Department nurse.

The monkey is a 5-pound macaque whose owner has brought it into public places, Dickman said. The owner hasn't been charged with any violations and isn't named. But his pet quickly earned a reputation.

"The thing is very territorial," Dickman said.

One incident was at a restaurant at the Whitefish mall. Another, possibly involving two people, was at a fruit stand on U.S. 2 near the airport.

The bites were deep enough to break the skin on victims, raising concerns about disease transmission, Dickman said. "We're worried about it," he said.

Concerns include tetanus, herpes B, tuberculosis, rabies and hepatitis B, Dickman said.

The monkey has been sent to Great Falls to be quarantined, he said. Test samples have gone to Loma Linda, Calif., for analysis, he said.

Flathead County Attorney Tom Esch said there are ordinances against having a vicious dog, but none against owning a vicious monkey.

"I haven't ruled out endangerment" charges, Esch said Monday.

The Gleaner
July 18, 2002

CAPUCHIN MONKEY AT LARGE

A MONKEY in its late 20s escaped from the Hope Zoo in St. Andrew yesterday morning and is now on the run.

Officials at the Hope Zoo urged residents in and around the communities of Hope Pastures and Liguanea to be on the lookout for Sammy, the 1-1/2 feet capuchin or South American monkey which has a cowl-like cap of hair on the head. Residents are being strongly advised not to approach or attempt to capture or restrain the animal which has large canines and is capable of inflicting bites.

According to Hope Zoo representative Charlene Alexander, investigations are now under way to determine the circumstances under which Sammy escaped from his holding area at about 10:00 a.m yesterday.

He is fairly intelligent but he is very capable of inflicting bites. He is somewhat tame but he is only friendly with people he is familiar with, Miss Alexander said yesterday.

Sammy, who is dark brown and hairy, is a fruit-eating monkey whose diet is normally supplemented with hard-boiled eggs for protein. Miss Alexander said she expects the capuchins to remain in the Hope Pastures area as there are a lot of trees around.

Sammy was donated to the Hope Zoo in 1985 by the Immaculate Conception High School where it was previously being kept as a pet.

Agence France Presse
July 7, 2002 Sunday

Manic monkey scares sunbathers at Rome pool

An angry ape called Pedro terrorised swimmers at a municipal swimming pool in Rome on Sunday after demolishing his cage in order to attack neighbourhood dogs, authorities said.

The pet animal, a Japanese macaque, is 80 centimetres (32 inches) high and was calmed with a shot of anesthetic after being hunted for two hours.

His owner raised the alarm after finding the remains of the cage. A couple of days earlier Pedro had bitten him, causing a wound which needed seven stitches.

The Associated Press State & Local Wire
July 4, 2002, Thursday, BC cycle
Looking for a pet? Leave the monkeys alone, caretakers of primates plead
By KIMBERLY MATAS, Arizona Daily Star

As part of her daily grooming ritual, Erin Allan goes into her back yard where Tanuki, a white-faced Capuchin monkey, massages her owner's hands and cleans under Allan's manicured nails using her own tiny black fingers.

In return, Allan strokes the 13-year-old primate's long, furry arms as Tanuki reaches through the chain-link fencing of her large cage.

Allan has six monkeys, each with a distinct personality. The Tucson resident has a one-on-one relationship with each of them, but she does not condone keeping primates as pets. Those in Allan's care are former pets, given up when owners lost interest or realized caring for the animals was more work than anticipated.

"I'm not against private ownership per se, but I am against trying to make monkeys something they are not," she said, stressing that no matter what their upbringing, at their core primates are wild animals.

A member of the Simian Society of America and past vice president and board member, Allan knows what she's talking about. She and other private caretakers from across the country put together a thick handbook outlining primate care. To better understand her fur-faced wards, Allan took college classes in primatology and volunteered at the ChimpanZoo: Research, Education and Enrichment Program, sponsored by the Jane Goodall Institute.

Many people are under the mistaken impression that they can tame a monkey if they get it early enough, Allan said. Subsequently breeders pull babies as young as 2 weeks old from their mothers' arms. That early disengagement from their mothers, combined with social isolation from other primates, causes maturational arrest and maladaptive behaviors, Allan said.

One of the monkeys in Allan's care, Amelia, a hybrid blackcap Capuchin, is so hyperactive she must live alone until Allan can find another primate with whom the 13-year-old monkey can get along.

Because she was raised by humans, not her own mother, Amelia spends much of her time rocking back and forth, her slender arms wrapped around a large wadded-up blanket, imitating the way she would have clung to her mother, Allan said.

"They adapt by developing behaviors to substitute for what's lacking in their environment," she said. Some monkeys, who never had the early stimulation of other primates, can even become thumb-suckers, self-biters and self-mutilators.

In the primate world, mothers care for their young around the clock for months, providing grooming and constant motion and allowing them to cling to them and suckle whenever they want. Plus, primate mothers provide life lessons to their young. Primates learn by watching the behavior of other monkeys. Even humans with the best intentions cannot be substitutes for the kind of attention another monkey can provide, Allan said.

Allan tries "to provide as much of a natural setting as possible, but it's difficult."

Within their cages her monkeys have houses to hide in, shelves to climb, hanging walkways to run across, blankets and a few children's toy, even though she said adult primates are not very interested in toys.

Though Amelia lives alone for the moment, three other Capuchins live together nearby in one large cage attached to a smaller enclosure by a series of overhead, interconnected caged-in walkways. Two others share another spacious cage.

Allan never enters the cages. Though humans raised them, the monkeys would attack if Allan invaded their territory.

Instead, she said, "I love them up through the bars."

Allan said owners often sterilize their primate pets in the mistaken belief this will tame them, and pull out their teeth to prevent biting. She is opposed to humans using primates "as surrogate children."

"I don't like to see the dignity removed by putting them in clothes and diapers," she said.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/news/62702_local_monkey.html
Young boy suffers attack from pet monkey

Nine-year-old Adam Soileau describes how a neighbor's pet monkey attacked his arms.
By Jessica Willey
ABC 13 Eyewitness News

(6/27/02) - A nine-year-old Montgomery county boy is recovering after being attacked by a monkey. It happened while he was playing near his home. Now that monkey is under quarantine.

Presley, a macaque monkey, attacked nine-year-old Adam Soileau. Its owner and even a firefighter responded to the scene Sunday. Meanwhile, the boy, who sustained the worst injuries, is back home after the attack. One is so bad, he can't even walk.

Adam had to be carried by his father when he returned home from the hospital.

"I have a whole bunch of stitches (along my thumb)," said Adam. "And he cut a whole bunch of skin (from my leg.)"

On Sunday, Adam was playing in his Montgomery county neighborhood in front of the house where the monkey lives. All of a sudden, he says it came from the backyard and attacked him.

"He started jumping. After he got this (arm), he seen all the blood," Adam recalled. "Then he jumped to this (arm) and started yanking, and going back and forth to a leg and both my arms, like, taking turns on all of them."

So agitated, the monkey dragged Adam into the ditch. Finally his grandmother came to the rescue, beating the primate off him with her purse.

"She heard me yelling help," Adam said.

The monkey named Presley is a macaque, a species known to be unpredictable and aggressive. We can't get close to the one in question because it now sits quarantined for 30 days at Montgomery County Animal Control. Twice a day, a supervisor there cleans its cage and feeds it while it's tested for diseases.

"We don't expect there to be a problem," said Kelli Copeland, the director of Montgomery Co. Animal Control. "The animal is born and raised in captivity and has not been around any other monkeys. "

Copeland says the owner didn't have a permit to keep the monkey in the county nor did she have it contained legally. She'll be cited. But she says if the monkey is healthy and its owner abides by county ordinances, it could go back home.
Adam Solieau has multiple reasons why he thinks that's a bad idea.

"I think they ought to put it down," Adam told Eyewitness News. "Because any day if someone goes around where he lives, he's going to attack them."

The owner, Judy Williams, will be cited for not having the monkey registered and for letting it run at large. We tried to contact her but were unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, a vet with the Houston zoo has already drawn blood from the monkey. They fear it may have any number of diseases including herpes. Those results haven't come back yet. Adam Soileau is taking antibiotics just in case.

The Houston Chronicle
June 27, 2002, Thursday 3 STAR EDITION

Monkey being tested for virus after attacks on 3 people

BY: HARVEY RICE

MAGNOLIA - Montgomery County officials Wednesday were awaiting test results that would determine whether a monkey that bit and scratched three people has a lethal strain of herpes.

The 15- to 20-pound male macaque attacked 9-year-old Adam Soileau in front of his grandmother's home in Magnolia, causing severe injuries to the boy's legs, arms and hands, said Tony Clingaman, an emergency medical technician with Magnolia Volunteer Fire Department. "He definitely could have killed that child," said Clingaman, who found the boy in shock and bleeding profusely when he arrived at about 11 a.m. Sunday.

The macaque retreated to the back porch, where it eventually was retrieved by its owner, Judy Williams, 49, who returned it to her back yard about three houses from where the attack took place.

The 7-year-old macaque also bit Williams and scratched Clingaman as they put it in its cage.

Adam and Clingaman, informed that macaques carry a strain of herpes virus that is fatal to humans, were put on a regimen of antibiotics and antiviral medicines by their doctors.

The macaque will remain under rabies quarantine for 30 days.

http://stacks.msnbc.com/local/kprc/A1238323.asp
Pet Monkey Quarantined After Biting 3 People

MAGNOLIA, Texas, 5:38 p.m. CDT June 25, 2002 - An unregistered exotic monkey bit and scratched three people, including a boy, and was placed under quarantine, according to animal control officials Tuesday.

Presley the monkey joined 13 other quarantined animals at the Montgomery County Animal Shelter, officials said.

Presley, described as smaller than the average male macaques, escaped from its cage on McIntosh Street in southwest Montgomery County and went on a biting rampage, officials said.

"It bit a little boy, then it bit its owner and scratched a fireman," said Kelli Copeland with the Montgomery County Animal Shelter.

Animal experts at the Houston Zoo, who were called in for the case, take monkey bites seriously since monkeys can carry dangerous diseases.

The macaques can spread the herpes B virus.

"It's a type of herpes that is carried by many different macaques and it can be deadly to humans so when a human is bitten by a macaques, it's important to that monkey to see if that animal had the disease and was shedding it at the time," said Joe Flanagan, a senior veterinarian at the Houston Zoo.

Test results were not back Tuesday afternoon.

Presley will be quarantined for a month, according to authorities, and cannot be returned to his old cage.

"The pen is in very bad shape. She is going to have to install another pen. I don't know if this one would meet code at all. It has to be 9-guage wire and she's got a much thinner wire than is required," Copland said.

Flanagan said the Houston Zoo does not have macaques because they are known carriers of infectious diseases.

He said that it's also why macaques and rhesus monkeys make good laboratory research pets and not domestic pets.

Presley's owner will be cited for not registering the monkey in Montgomery County, police said.

Bangkok Post
June 14, 2002

ZOO WORKERS CAPTURE MISCHIEVOUS MACAQUE, EVENTUALLY
BY: Pattanapong Hirunnard

An aggressive monkey which wreaked havoc on a small community for two days was finally captured yesterday, Dusit zoo officials said.

The seven-year-old male macaque's anti-social behaviour became a topic of discussion on Ruam Duay Chuay Kan community radio on Wednesday. The residents in tambon Klong Bang Pla Kod in Phra Samut Chedi district called the station and asked for help.

The monkey barged into their houses and stole food and any other items that grabbed his attention, and attacked anyone trying to catch him, they said.

Dusit zoo sent a 15-strong team led by Somchart Luanklinhom to catch the animal. Their first attempt, on Wednesday, failed when the monkey refused to drink milk laced with sedatives.

The animal showed up again yesterday afternoon, and after causing an electrical short circuit and getting a shock was subdued with a tranquilliser dart.

Mr Somchart said the monkey had apparently been well-trained. It used straws when drinking and knew how to unwrap food packages.

The macaque was taken to Dusit zoo for care and attention.

The short circuit caused a power blackout at a 50-room welfare apartment lasting several hours.

The Express
June 10, 2002

ANIMALS SPEND THEIR LIVES LOCKED AWAY IN GARAGES; MISERY OF PET MONKEYS

THOUSANDS of monkeys, bought as lovable pets, are being condemned to lives of misery in garden sheds and garages across Britain, animal welfare groups claimed yesterday.

Experts say at least 1,500 primates are kept in cramped conditions unable to exercise and being fed fizzy drinks and chocolate - a world away from their natural surroundings of lush, tropical rainforests.

Hundreds more are on offer for sale around the UK because of the growing trend for keeping exotic animals as pets - despite the fact that isolating monkeys causes them mental illness. Owners currently need a license to keep a monkey as a pet, but the Monkey Sanctuary Trust is urging the Government to make it illegal.

Rachel Hevesi, a director of the sanctuary, warned that even pet monkeys kept in good conditions suffer because they miss out on the complex social relationships they require.

"Lots of people buy monkeys because they see an animal with a cute face and big eyes and want to take care of it, " she said.

"But monkeys are dangerous wild animals which should not be kept as pets. People fail to understand the time and attention that a monkey requires to live a happy life.

"All monkeys are social animals that need the company of their own kind to develop natural behaviour.

"Often pet monkeys live in isolation and no amount of human love can make up for the separation from their own kind.

"Faced with this barren existence, monkeys develop stereotypical behaviour and because they are so desperate for stimulation they over-groom themselves till their arms and legs are bare of fur.

"They can also take out their frustration on the people looking after them. This normally happens when they hit puberty at about five years old and they become more aggressive.

"That's when many owners have to lock them up in garden sheds or garages because they are too dangerous to keep in the house."

The Monkey Sanctuary, near Looe in Cornwall, is currently caring for 13 woolly monkeys and two capuchins.

Peppy, the newest resident, was brought in by a family who could not cope after being given him as a pet.

They were forced to house him in their garden shed and he was being fed a diet of roast dinners and chocolate spread sandwiches.

Another capuchin called Frosty was rescued from kennels, surrounded by barking dogs. He was found with a female monkey and baby, but his two companions were so ill they died a few days after they were rescued.

Ian Redmond, who is adviser to the United Nations Great Ape Survival Project, said: "All primates are intelligent social animals.

"Keeping them in captivity seldom gives them the quality of life they deserve.

"Even when captive bred, young primates are taken from their mothers for the pet trade, which causes stress to the youngster and mother, perpetuating the cycle of cruelty."

Aug. 13, 2002, 6:50AM
Violent monkey to be extradited; disease-free and heading to Okla.

By CINDY HORSWELL
Houston Chronicle

MAGNOLIA -- Presley, a pet monkey who seriously injured a boy and also attacked two adults, is free of diseases and will be sent to a zoolike environment in Oklahoma, Montgomery County's animal control director said Monday.

Cindy Williams, owner of the 40-pound macaque since shortly after his birth in 1996, has agreed to relinquish custody and pay for his monthlong quarantine, during which he was checked for hepatitis, rabies and herpes, said animal control chief Kelly Copeland.

Williams, 49, of Magnolia, could not be reached for comment. Copeland said Presley will be returned to his breeders, Armer Exotics in Oklahoma City.

The macaque escaped on June 23 and attacked 9-year-old Adam Soileau and two others. The boy needed numerous stitches but is recovering, Copeland said.

The Record (Bergen County, NJ)
April 7, 2002 Sunday All Editions

MONKEY BARRED FROM GOING HOME

WOODBURY - Still not convinced that Curious George won't get into mischief, a judge is refusing to let the little monkey go home, at least for now.

Debra Ann Stipp and her husband, Conrad, are trying to get their 11-year-old pet monkey back after state authorities confiscated the unlicensed animal. New Jersey law considers capuchin monkeys to be a "potentially dangerous species" requiring a special owner's or exhibitor's permit.

Judge Martin A. Herman did not rule on the family's contention that Curious George is harmless. But he did allow the Stipps to have a veterinarian visit the monkey and make sure it is healthy.

The Stipps applied for a permit last month, even though they have owned the monkey since it was a newborn.

They say Curious George, purchased from a Pennsylvania breeder for $3,500, is not dangerous. He was neutered to lessen his aggressiveness, and his four large incisor teeth were removed.

Herman scheduled another hearing for April 26. He also allowed the Stipps to have their veterinarian examine Curious George at the Popcorn Park Zoo, an animal rescue facility in Lacey Township, Ocean County.

The monkey has been held in a cage there since a state conservation officer, acting on an informant's complaint, seized the animal from the couple's house Feb. 16.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_557231.html?menu=
Escaped monkey attacks two in Japan

Two people have been bitten by a monkey that escaped from its owner's cage in Japan.

A woman who was bitten on the thigh has been told her injuries could take three weeks to heal.

The Japanese monkey was eventually caught by police in Seto.

Police are questioning its 58-year-old owner on suspicion of violating an ordinance on keeping animals because he did not have permission to keep the monkey.

It bit Harue Tamayama on the thigh then attacked Katsuzo Yamashita, who's 66. He suffered slight injuries.

The Mainichi Daily News reports investigators found a large opening in the cage through which the monkey escaped.

Story filed: 12:42 Sunday 31st March 2002

Cox News Service
March 27, 2002 Wednesday
Wayward monkey returned to Florida home

BY: DANI DAVIES

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. - Around the same time a friendly capuchin monkey named Jake was making himself comfortable munching snacks in a backyard treehouse, his family was searching frantically for their special pet.

Three days of monkey vacation ended Wednesday morning when Janice Ferraiolo climbed the treehouse and brought Jake home.

"He screamed when he saw me," the monkey's foster mother said. "Then he just came running."

Jake is diabetic and requires a daily insulin shot. He has lived with Ferraiolo for seven years to get him used to family life but will someday become a helper to a quadriplegic person.

A day after slipping out of a screen door of his home Sunday, the 14-year-old, 8-pound monkey showed up at Domenico Scotto's home.

"He was waving and knocking at the window to get my attention," said Scotto, who gave Jake water, bananas and peanut butter.

Jake climbed to the treehouse, where Scotto usually sits to drink capuccino and espresso.

"I went up there slowly. That's when he shook my hand," he said.

Jake quickly made himself comfortable in the treetop oasis as Scotto and his neighbor, Peggy Giglio, kept their eyes peeled for lost pet notices. She fed Jake peanut butter from a spoon and bought him fruit and stuffed animals.

They contacted Ferraiolo after reading a story about Jake. Giglio says she is thinking of becoming a foster parent, and Scotto has an unique tale to tell.

"A monkey knocking at your door," he said. "Imagine that."

The Indianapolis Star
March 20, 2002 Wednesday City Edition

Capture in garage puts end to this pet's monkey shines

BY: BY DIANE FREDERICK DIANE.FREDERICK@INDYSTAR.COM

THORNTOWN, Ind. -- Rascal, the wayward spider monkey that gave police a run for their cookies last week, is back home.

Rascal escaped from owners Mike and Susan Warmoth, who live on Ind. 47 east of Thorntown. A passer-by saw Rascal on Ind. 52 Thursday and called police.

Boone County Sheriff Dennis Brannon and two State Police troopers tried, unsuccessfully, to lure Rascal into custody with a Girl Scout cookie.

Rascal snatched the box from Brannon before fleeing into a wooded area.

At some point, Rascal took shelter in a garage on Ind. 52. On Saturday, the owner of the garage contacted Mike Warmoth, who finally caught the wayward monkey.

"It took about 45 minutes in the garage to get him settled down," Susan Warmoth said. "He was so exhausted he went to sleep in my granddaughter's car seat on the way home."

"He likes garages, evidently," said neighbor Alma Smith, who has encountered Rascal on the run previously.

Rascal wound up in Smith's garage last year after leading her husband, Jerry, and a helper from Smith's Trash Service on a wild chase.

Alma Smith said that episode began while she and her sister were en route to a garage sale. Alma saw Rascal sitting on a post, out of reach of a pursuing dog.

"I said, 'There's a monkey on that post,' " Alma Smith said. "My sister said, 'What did you have for breakfast?' I said, 'Stop the car,' but she said, 'That monkey's not getting in my car.' "

When Smith approached the monkey, it headed to the treetops.

"I got ahold of my husband," she said. "His helper got up in the tree. Of course, the minute he did, the monkey swung to another tree."

Rascal eventually ducked into the Smiths' garage, where Mike Warmoth caught him.

Susan Warmoth said Rascal undid the latch on his cage and removed cardboard used to cover a broken window pane to make his escape last Wednesday from their garage.

"I'm just glad he's home and we don't have to worry about it," she said. "Around here, there's a lot of coyotes. We were worried something might get him or he'd get hit out on the road."

Rare monkey found at Fort Bend county farmhouse
Walter - a very rare monkey - had hooked up with a pack of dogs in Ft. Bend County.

By Deborah Wrigley
ABC 13 Eyewitness News
(3/4/02) - The SPCA is called in to take custody of a lot of exotic animals, but none more so than the one it has right now. It's a primate that's so rare most zoos can't get one. And that's the mystery of the monkey.

At the moment, he's called Walter -- a white-crowned Mangaby, one of the rarest creatures in the world. Only about 200 live in the African jungle. But for now, he's at Houston's SPCA after being caught in the wilds of Fort Bend county at an abandoned farmhouse.

On Christmas Eve, there was a report of a monkey sitting on a front porch beside some stray dogs. SPCA investigators thought it was a joke.

It wasn't. Walter had apparently escaped from his owner's home and taken up with the dogs.

Jim Boller/SPCA Investigator: "They were foraging together and whatever the dogs ate he would too, and his natural diet is vegetarian."

Word that he's here has zoos calling. Everyone's curious about the mystery of how he wound up in Texas. There's a theory...

Jim Boller/SPCA Investigator: "Most likely is, they bought him from one of these animals, dispersed to a dealer inappropriately and found his way to Fort Bend county."

Like lions and tigers that have wound up in the SPCA, Walter is an exotic animal That means he's protected by law, but not from black market dealers who promote them as pets.

Patty Mercer/Houston SPCA: "You're finding them in homes and apartments across this country and their numbers are disappearing dramatically in the wild."

Walter though will be luckier than most. There are plans to send him to a program in Europe.

Patty Mercer/Houston SPCA: "They're doing a reintroduction program. So Walter may get to see a jungle yet. He may get to see a jungle or at least be surrounded by individuals of his own kind."

A better life than he's had so far. Walter the monkey may also wind up in a National Geographic production. The Geographic is planning a program on exotic animals mistakenly kept as pets, and the Houston SPCA will be featured.

1/14/2002 6:03:03 PM
Reporter: Cyndee Speers
http://www.wbir.com/News/news.asp?ID=5658

MONKEY PUT TO SLEEP - Mickey the runaway monkey has been put to sleep.

Last week the 40-pound Japanese snow monkey escaped from a chain-link enclosure in Todd Rhodes' back yard, it's only escape in six months of being there.

Greg Hodges returned home and thought it strange to see a money on the loose as he drove up to his home.

Hodges said when he got out of his car, the money jumped onto his back and began biting his back and hand. He said he was able to throw off the animal, but it tried to attack him again.

Rhodes got the monkey pinned down by the time the animal control officer arrived.

The Knox County Health Department and several experts decided Monday to put Mickey to sleep and have him tested for diseases.

Hodges should know late this week if he's at rick from Mickey's bites.

Knoxville News-Sentinel (Knoxville, TN)
January 10, 2002, Thursday

Monkey escapes pen, attacks; 'Vicious' Mickey may be euthanized after biting man

BY: Bryan Mitchell, News-Sentinel staff writer

It was a night of monkey business Wednesday for Wade Dunham of the Knox County Sheriff's Department. But no one is laughing.

A bizarre incident began when a Japanese snow monkey escaped from its chain-linked fence pen on Nicholas Drive shortly after 6 p.m. and began to scour the neighborhood. The 25-pound monkey's owner, Todd Rhodes, claims Wednesday evening's breakout was the first time "Mickey" had escaped during the critter's six-month stay in the back yard of the Northeast Knox County home.

That's of little consequence to Tina Maria Drive resident Greg Hodges, who was a victim of Mickey's aggression.

"I saw (the monkey) near the street as I drove up, and I thought, 'That's kind of weird,' " Hodges said.

However, the incident became even stranger when Mickey came up on Hodges after the man got out of his car. Mickey proceeded to jump on the resident's back.

"It started to bite my back and my hand," Hodges said.

Hodges was able to throw the monkey off his back, but he contends that didn't deter Mickey's aggressiveness.

"It kept coming back for more," Hodges said. "It was a vicious monkey."

Rhodes pinned down the monkey before the arrival of Dunham, an animal-control specialist for the Sheriff's Department. Dunham took Mickey into custody and issued an animal-at-large citation to Rhodes.

Rhodes contended that the monkey is listed as a Class III pet and therefore does not require any special permit. He is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 4 to face the charge.

Hodges said he plans to press charges.

As for Mickey, Dunham said both the Knoxville Zoo and the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine would be given an opportunity to adopt the creature. If not adopted, the monkey will be euthanized.

Bryan Mitchell may be reached at 865-342-6306 or at mitchellb@knews.com.

New Hampshire Sunday News

December 30, 2001
Lost in the woods

A Capuchin monkey lost in the woods drove some Danville residents bananas as repeated attempts to catch the elusive primate failed.

The monkey was first spotted living in the woods in August when it jumped in front of Danville Fire Chief David Kimball as he drove along Kingston Road.

Numerous monkey sightings were reported throughout town after that. Soon the story of Danville's lost monkey gained national attention as Animal Control Officer Denise Laratonda organized a search party in hopes of catching the animal before winter. A trap was placed in the woods, filled with some of the monkey's favorite treats: monkey biscuits, molasses-covered marshmallows, jelly beans and Reese's peanut butter cups.

The owner of the monkey never came forward, making the rescue effort more difficult because searchers didn't know the animal's name.

Despite their efforts, searchers failed to rescue the animal. They called off their search in early December, believing the monkey must have died in the woods.

New Straits Times (Malaysia)
December 4, 2001

Owner of monkey also bitten

KUANTAN, Mon. - The owner of the male monkey which bit a four-year-old boy in Taman Serindit in Kampung Jawa, yesterday, was bitten on both hands by the animal when he tried to capture it. The monkey bit Inthiran Naralingam, 28, when he tried to capture it upon hearing the screams of Mohd Suzarilshah Zakaria.

"I do not know how the animal escaped from the cage and why it went to bite my neighbour's son," Intiran said.

"When I heard a boy screaming I rushed out of my house and saw Mohd Suzarilshah's right arm bleeding ... I then turned to the animal and went to catch it.

"However, when I found it at about 2.10pm, 10-minutes after the incident, it suddenly bit me on both hands," he said here today.

Mohd Suzarilshah was playing in front of his Taman Serindit home at about 2pm yesterday when the monkey suddenly attacked him and bit off a chunk of flesh from the boy's arm.

Inthiran said he plans to release the monkey near a Hindu Temple in Segamat where other primates are found.

"The monkey has become a threat and I do not wish to keep it," he said.

Mohd Suzarilshah's father, Zakaria Mohd Dahlan, 40, when contacted said that his son's arm is still swollen and he is being treated at the Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital.

"My son received seven stitches on his arm and is in stable condition," he said.

The New Straits Times could not reach the State Wildlife and National Parks Department director Zainuddin Ab Shukor for comment.

Court takes away woman's pet primates
By Dwayne Pickels
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, November 15, 2001

A deal met in Fayette County court Wednesday means no more monkey business for a Brownsville woman who appealed a conviction on numerous animal cruelty charges.

Janice Ritsko of 509 Baltimore St. agreed yesterday to relinquish her ownership rights to four monkeys and a baboon taken from her care in April and pleaded no contest to three of the 33 animal cruelty citations filed against her by Brownsville Police Officer Autumn Fike.

"I would have been happy to have gone through the whole trial today," Fike said, attributing the plea bargain to the district attorney's office. "But my main priority here was to make sure that she (Ritsko) doesn't have these animals anymore."

Ritsko, 47, had been found guilty on all counts and fined $4,600 following a six-hour hearing in April before Brownsville District Justice Herb Mitchell.

But she appealed that ruling and went before Common Pleas Judge John F. Wagner Jr. yesterday with a plea bargain struck by her defense counsel, Paula Lappe, and Assistant District Attorney Phyllis Jin.

Wagner ordered Ritsko to pay $300 plus fees and court costs for each of the three summary citations, which claimed she failed to provide water for a snow macaque monkey and a vervet monkey as well as access to clean and adequate sanitation for a Dalmation dog.

Another vervet monkey, a squirrel monkey and a baboon also were taken from Ritsko's care during the April raid.

Jin agreed to withdraw the remaining citations under the condition that Ritsko agree never to seek ownership of the animals, which have been in the care of Living Treasures Animal Park at its locations in Donegal Township and New Castle.

Living Treasures owner Kathleen Guiher and Uniontown veterinarian Dr. William Sheperd told Wagner they were willing to waive restitution costs in excess of $22,000 in exchange for Ritsko's agreement to relinquish any ownership claims on the animals.

"We feel that justice is served just getting the animals out of there," Sheperd said.

Ritsko, who sobbed during the court proceeding, "was very upset" over losing the primates, Lappe said. "But she had limited financial resources and could not afford to continue to fight this."

Lappe added her client "is not a mean person. She's just a soft-hearted lady who had a lot of animals."

Fike, a former manager of the Fayette County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, noted the case concluded yesterday was not Ritsko's first brush with the law involving animals.

In 1998, Fike and Redstone Township police charged Ritsko with 80 animal cruelty citations following an Aug. 22 raid on her Best Friends pet store in the village of Republic.

Among the collection of wild and domesticated animals taken in that raid was a 3-year-old, 300-pound, male African lion named "Duke," which prosecutors said had been living in cramped, filthy conditions.

Sheperd reported in December of 1998 that, under his care, the lion gained 150 pounds and was transferred to a wildlife refuge in North Carolina for what he called "a simulated version of life in the wild."

But Ritsko also struck a deal in that case and pleaded guilty to only five of the initial 80 citations for $825 in fines plus fees and court costs. She was allowed to reclaim possession of the two vervet monkeys and the baboon.

Fike said she revisited Ritsko earlier this year after receiving complaints from a former employee about the treatment of the animals in her care.

Along with the monkeys, police took several other dogs and "feral" cats, two birds and a tarantula, Fike said. "It was just disgusting in there."

Sheperd supported Fike's allegations and showed reporters a video and still photographs depicting what he said was feces caked on one of the primates' hands and feet, refuse and feces scattered about their cages and blood and pus on the ears of the malnourished dog.

"It could barely walk when we got it out of there," the veterinarian said, adding all of the animals "are doing fine now."

"She (Ritsko) did love the animals, but she just didn't have the ability to take care of them," Sheperd said, explaining that the primates had to be tranquilized and netted to remove them from their cages and could have seriously harmed Ritsko if she had entered.

"She couldn't go in to clean them or they could have torn her apart," he said. "But none of those animals deserved to be kept like that."

Dwayne Pickels can be reached at dpickels@tribweb.com or (724) 539-3320.

New Straits Times (Malaysia)
October 31, 2001

Monkey attacks boy in his house verandah
By Adrian David

PETALING JAYA, Tues. - A three-year-old boy suffered wounds all over his body after he was bitten by a monkey at his home in Gasing Indah, off Jalan Gasing, today.

Muhammad Mirzan Nadzim, who had to be given 100 stitches for the injuries, was playing on the first-floor verandah of his three-storey house in Jalan 5/58 when he was attacked by the animal at 7am. It could not be established if it was an unprovoked incident or if the boy had attempted to feed the monkey.
Muhammad Mirzan's shouts for help alerted family members who went to his aid, by which time the monkey had darted into the Bukit Gasing primary jungle nearby.

The family rushed Muhammad Mirzan to a nearby clinic before taking him to the Ampang Puteri Hospital where he was admitted to the emergency ward. Fortunately, his vital organs were not injured.

Doctors at the paediatric ward said Muhammad Mirzan could return home tomorrow.

The boy's father, Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia executive secretary Nadzim Johan, said that his son was alone at the time of the attack as the other family members prepared for breakfast.

"Two days ago, another monkey attempted to attack another of my sons, Muhammad Afif, 10, in front of our house. The monkeys also attempted to attack my mother Sharifah Zamnah, 60, some time back.

"On other occasions, the monkeys have damaged flower pots and other household items," said Nadzim.

He added that he and his wife, Norbaini Mohamad Zaini, had advised their five children, aged between three and 15, and their Indonesian maid Zulaika, to be wary of the monkeys.

"We have also heard of the monkeys attacking joggers in the area but our complaints to the authorities have fallen on deaf ears," said Nadzim.

He said that he had telephoned the Petaling Jaya Municipal Council following the attempted attack on Muhammad Afif, and several of the council's officers had visited the area.

"But that's all. No one has taken measures to trap the monkeys of which there is a large population here. I hope something is done fast before someone else suffers a serious or fatal injury," Nadzim said, adding that Muhammad Mirzan's medical bill was big.

PJMC public relations officer Haniza Abdul Hamid promised to investigate the matter. She advised residents there not to feed or provoke the monkeys.

"We are aware of the large monkey population in the area and will direct the Environment Control Department to take action. If needs be, we will seek the assistance of the National Parks and Wildlife Department in trapping the monkeys," she said. The council, she added, had trapped monkeys in the area previously.

Attacks by monkeys on people in urban areas are not uncommon.

On Oct 22, a 40-day-old infant sustained facial and head injuries after being snatched from his mother's arms by a pet monkey at their house in Kampung Chenok, Kadok in Kota Baru.

Muhammad Hanif Jasmi was admitted to the Kota Baru Hospital for three days before being discharged. The baby's mother, Rosmaini Lilawati Shaari, 24, was breastfeeding Muhammad Hanif inside the house when the incident happened at 5.30pm.

Fortunately, Rosmaini's sisters-in-law Rosita Yusof, 22, and Rodiah Yusof, 25, came to her aid on hearing the commotion and rescued the baby from the monkey.

adrian@nstp.com.my

New Straits Times (Malaysia)
October 27, 2001

Department to look into case of monkey and infant

KOTA BARU, Fri. - The Wildlife and National Parks Department will investigate the case where a monkey tried to run off with a baby at Kampung Chenok, Kadok, here on Monday. Department deputy director Mohd Nor Ariri Mohd Noor said action would be taken.

He said it was quite normal for monkeys to have a liking for children.

Mohd Nor was commenting on the incident where an infant boy was snatched from his mother by the family's pet monkey on Monday.

Mohamad Hanif Jasni was admitted to the Kota Baru Hospital after he suffered injuries to his face and head in the 5.30pm incident.

Mohd Nor Ariri said it was important for owners to be cautious and ensure that the animals were chained so that they would not escape and harm others.

He said owners also had to apply for a license, which cost RM10 a year, from the department.

Meanwhile, State Veterinary Services director Dr Idris Abdul Kadir said monkeys could infect humans by through bites.

Agence France Presse
October 25, 2001 Thursday

Monkey snatches baby as mother breastfeeds

KOTA BAHARU, Malaysia - A young Malaysian mother was stunned when the family's pet monkey snatched her baby as she was breastfeeding him and dashed out of the house, a report said Thursday.

Cries for help from 24-year-old Rosmani Lilawati Shaari brought three sisters-in-law into the chase and the monkey was finally cornered -- but it would not give up the month-old baby, Bernama news agency reported. "It refused to let my son go, curling up itself instead while hugging my son closer to its chest," said Rosmani.

A 10-minute tug-of-war ensued, with the baby reportedly calm and uncrying in the arms of the monkey, a male, which had escaped from a leash tying it to a tree.

When finally retrieved, the scratched baby was taken to hospital where he was treated for three days before being discharged Wednesday.

Primate sights have some wondering about monkey business
September 11, 2001
DANVILLE, N.H.

There may be some monkey business going on in town.

Roughly a dozen people, including Fire Chief David Kimball, say they recently saw a large monkey on the loose in this small town of 3,800 people in southern New Hampshire.

"I couldn't believe what I was seeing," he said. Neither could his wife. "She told me I had flipped when I told her."

Kimball said he was driving through town recently when the monkey jumped into the middle of the street, hopped a bit, then lunged away.

On Sunday volunteers and animal control officers used bananas and oranges to try to attract the monkey.

Experts hope to capture the monkey before it gets any cooler. They said otherwise the creature is unlikely to live past November.

Kimball thinks he identified the monkey as a Humbolt's woolly monkey, which is native to the Amazon, after watching television programs on the Adventure Channel.

"It would be quite tall, maybe about four feet, if it were standing straight up, but they walk on all fours, a bit hunched over," he said. He described the creature as very woolly and dark brown all over with a red hue.

Kimball said he thinks somebody in the area was keeping the monkey as a pet, but won't admit it escaped because it is illegal to keep monkeys in New Hampshire.

He said his research indicated Humbolt monkeys supposedly make good pets. He said it is legal to purchase monkeys in Massachusetts.

"He probably got out and no one is owning up to it," Kimball said.

Kimball said he knows of at least eight other people who have spotted the monkey around town.

"They're all getting the same reaction when they tell someone they've seen it," he said. "People tell them they're crazy."

The chief said the town's animal control officer has contacted a wildlife expert, who has expressed interest in trying to trap the monkey.

"Fish and Game had no interest in it because it's not a native animal," Kimball said.

Animal Control Officer Denise Laratondo said she is trying to find the monkey's home.

"We aren't going to press any charges," she said. "We just want to do what's best for this animal and keep it alive."

She also said it is best that people not try to capture the monkey.

"Please let the experts handle it," she said.

Published Friday, September 7, 2001, in the Herald-Leader
Monkey that bit Laurel County girl was not rabid, tests show
SOUTH-CENTRAL KENTUCKY BUREAU

LONDON -- A monkey that bit a 6-year-old Laurel County girl did not have rabies, tests show.

The state Department for Public Health conducted preliminary and confirmation tests on brain tissue from the monkey and the results were negative for rabies, said Ruth Gaines, director of the Laurel County Health Department.

Joe T. Roberts of London, attorney for Jenny and Gary Houston, the monkey's owners, said health officials could have tested the monkey without euthanizing it and removing the head.

However, physicians with the Department for Public Health said there is no other reliable way to check for rabies in animals considered wild. Dogs and cats can be quarantined and observed for signs of the disease, but testing other animals requires samples of brain tissue, said Dr. Steve Englender.

The 8-month-old monkey was on display at a county fair Aug. 18 when it bit the child on the arm. The Houstons maintained the girl had only been scratched.

The case raised attention because a circuit judge held the Houstons in contempt of court last week and jailed them after they initially failed to turn over the monkey for testing. The Houstons got out of jail Saturday.

Roberts said yesterday the monkey was a Mandarin monkey and was considered an endangered species.

A Winchester (New Hampshire) woman helps rehabilitate animals so
they can go back to the wild

(9-1-01)

By SAMANTHA TRETHEWAY for Sentinel Source

When Irene E. Ruth was 7 years old, she thought a monkey would make a good pet. In her dreams, she would dance with the furry creature, and it would sit, perched on her shoulder and await her next command.

The memory makes the 58-year-old from Winchester chuckle. She knows better now.

"I was so wrong -- monkeys shouldn't be pets," Ruth said. "But that was the only wild animal I ever gave a thought to."

It wasn't until she became "too successful" making soft sculpture -- life-sized human figures out of socks, mittens and other fabric -- that she contemplated a change in careers. She enjoyed making shameless hussies and serving butlers for people. But when the orders started piling up and Ruth found herself working long days without much laughter, she knew it was time to stop.

About 15 years ago, Ruth turned to animals for the missing laughter.

Now she takes care of injured and abandoned wild animals. She is licensed by the state and federal governments as a volunteer wildlife rehabilitator. She nurses rescued animals to health and releases them back into the wild.

Ruth said the only way to explain her decision is through a fable. She calls it the starfish story:

One day an old man was walking on a beach. A devastating storm had passed through the night before, and the beach was littered with thousands of starfish dying in the hot sun. He knew they were dying, but what could he do? There were thousands of them.

The old man saw a young boy throwing the five-legged creatures into the sea. The old man asked the young man why he was wasting his time, for there were thousands and thousands of starfish on the beach. How, he asked, can you hope to make a difference?

The young man bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea. He looked at the old man and said, "It makes a difference to that one."

"That's how it is," Ruth said. "I'm not going to change the world, but I'm going to make a difference to some of these animals."

This year, Ruth said, she's released nearly 100 animals. Ruth wouldn't say how many animals she's treated that have died. But her blue eyes blurred with a sadness that said "too many."

"It's not always a happy ending," said Robert R. DeSena, a doctor at the Marlborough Veterinarian Clinic. "It's easy to burn out when you're dealing with work that has a lot of heartache. ... She gives (the animals) their best chance of having a happy ending."

Ruth is one of several dozen rehabilitators in New Hampshire. Occasionally, she works with volunteers out of her Winchester home. But for now, she works alone, except for semi-regular visits to DeSena, or "Dr. Bob" as she affectionately calls him.

DeSena and Ruth have worked together to save a bat with a broken wing, a goose with an infected foot, an abused beaver and others.

"Every individual animal who comes across Irene is a lucky individual," DeSena said. "If she could make a difference by nursing one animal back to health and getting it back to the wild, then it's all worthwhile to her."

When Ruth gets a call for an animal in need, the first thing she does is establish that there is indeed a genuine need for rescue.

"Sometimes people kidnap wild animals because they think they're cute," Ruth said. If that's the case, the best thing to do is get the young animal back to its mother. But if the animal needs rescue, she asks about safety. Her first question: Has the rescuer had rabies shots? "You never know with a wild animal," Ruth said.

The next step is to wrap the animal in blankets and keep it in a quiet place until the rescuer can get the animal to Ruth.

At her Winchester home, she nurses the animals to health and then teaches them to fly, crawl, dig and hunt.

In screened cages, she sets up obstacles, such as hollow branches for opossums to crawl through or hanging twigs for bats to maneuver through. There's even a ladder for raccoons to practice their upper arm strength.

Ruth said she wouldn't be able to give the animals the support they need without the help of her husband Gustav Ruth, 60. On July 13, the Ruths celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary.

They first met in high school as friends. But their relationship changed in college. She was majoring in commercial art and he in mechanical engineering, both at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston.

They first noticed the relationship shift during a double date -- she was dating his fraternity brother and he was dating her sorority sister. Several years later, they married.

For the first three years, Gustav Ruth flew as an army pilot. After the army, he took a piloting job with TWA, and the Ruths settled in Portsmouth, R.I. There, they began a family that would eventually include three children: Tony, Stacia and Melissa.

Two years ago, the Ruths retired to Winchester. And she began Winchester Wildlife.

"It's perfect," she said. It only takes 12 minutes to drive to Keene, yet the Ruth's, surrounded by 103 acres of land, are isolated from the nearby city.

The property had been owned by "Farmer Brown." After the Ruths hauled off rusty car parts, iron rods, railroad ties, cans, bottles and other junk, Gustav Ruth designed and helped build the house the couple calls home.

There's a pond for ducks, geese, beaver and other water creatures; meadows for opossums to run in; boulders for raccoons to climb; and trees where bats can sleep.

"It just feels good. This house feels good," Ruth said. From the porch, she can watch clouds move across the horizon and listen to birds rubbing their legs together in song. It's usually peaceful except for a few hours on Saturday night, Ruth said with a chuckle. Monadnock Speedway is just down the hill.

"We just wait a few hours, and it's all over," she said.

She walked into the rehabilitation room, an inside room for newly arrived animals.

"He was with someone two weeks," she said pointing at a two inch-long chipmunk crawling along a wire screened cage. The 8-week-old baby chipmunk should hide from humans, Ruth said. Instead he wants to play.

"He has no idea he's a chipmunk. Unless I find him another chipmunk to relate with, he'll never have a normal life in the wild," Ruth said sadly.

Humans should not make pets of wild animals, Ruth said.

"It's illegal," she said, as if the term would deter any potential wrongdoers. It robs the creatures of their wildness. When and if the humans release the wild things into nearby forest, often the animals have lost the instinct to hunt for food.

"Keeping animals is against the law," Ruth said. "A lot of the animals I get -- orphans in particular -- are taken in by people who don't have the right information."

"It's a risk to the people, but it's also a risk to the animal. They need more than bread and water," Ruth said.

At the moment, Winchester Wildlife only accepts mammals. For more information call 239-7552.

The Lexington Herald Leader
September 1, 2001 Saturday FINAL EDITION

INCIDENT INVOLVING A MONKEY LANDS LONDON COUPLE IN JAIL; JUDGE HELD THEM IN CONTEMPT FOR FAILING TO PRODUCE THE PET IN THE CASE OF AN ALLEGED BITE

Ty Tagami, Herald-Leader Staff Writer

A London couple went to jail after failing to turn over a pet monkey accused of attacking a 6-year-old girl during a county festival.

After a hearing Thursday afternoon, a judge ordered Jenny and Gary Houston, both 39, to release the monkey so it could be tested for rabies. But when the deadline of 6 p.m. Thursday arrived, the Houstons told a sheriff's deputy that the monkey had been stolen. Laurel Circuit Judge Roderick Messer found them in contempt of court and ordered them jailed.

"All I can do is believe my clients," said the Houstons' attorney, Joe T. Roberts of London. "They said it was stolen, and I believe them."

To test for rabies, veterinarians need an animal's brain, so the Houstons' pet would have to be decapitated, Roberts said.

The 8-month-old monkey still feeds from a bottle and sucks its thumb, Roberts said. The monkey is not violent; it sleeps with the Houstons' 12-year-old daughter, he said.

Thursday's hearing came after the Laurel County Board of Health sued on behalf of the bite victim, who was not identified. She was said to have been bitten on the arm on Aug. 18 at the Laurel County homecoming fair, where the monkey was on display.

The Houstons, owners of Kinnlee Stables, a petting zoo, maintain that the girl was merely scratched, Roberts said.

An official from the county health board testified Thursday that the girl was bitten, Roberts said. A local doctor and a veterinarian for the Kentucky Department of Public Health filed affidavits insisting that such bites could transmit fatal diseases, including rabies.

Roberts said Jenny Houston testified that she had contacted several zoos and was told that monkeys such as hers -- a Mandarin monkey -- do not carry rabies. The couple sent off the monkey's blood for a test, but the results aren't back yet, Roberts said.

Roberts said the hearing was not equitable "because we didn't have time to show that the monkey was not dangerous."

He said his clients will sit in jail until Messer decides to release them, since a contempt charge carries no bond.

Reach Ty Tagami at (859) 231-3414 or ttagami@herald-leader.com.

Newsday (New York)
August 18, 2001 Saturday NASSAU AND SUFFOLK EDITION
For Coco, No More Monkeying Around

BY: By Mitchell Freedman; STAFF WRITER

Coco, the year-old capuchin monkey who walked away from a petting zoo in Manorville a week ago, apparently decided late Thursday that she had more than enough time alone in the woods. She made her way to a mini-mart at a Hess gas station a few hundred yards from the zoo, waited for a customer to open the door and walked right in. Looking around, the foot-tall monkey then found her way to a back room.

Attendant Kristen Miller approached her and struck up a friendship. "I just started to talk to her. She held my hand. Then she sat on my shoulder," said Miller, of Center Moriches, who has a dog and four pet rabbits.

"I just watched her eyes. She never hissed or anything ... she's so cute."

While Miller was making friends with Coco, another employee went down the road and knocked on the office door, where Animal Farm owner Martin Albach was working late.

"We had gotten a lot of calls from people. I knew it [finding Coco] was getting close," he said.

"Some were from Westhampton and Setauket, but we had some good ones from around here."

Miller was feeding Coco a banana when Albach called his son, John, and the two came to get the monkey. She refused to go into a cage they brought with them, and a net didn't work. Instead, Miller took a long leash and snapped it on Coco's collar. Then the monkey climbed onto John's shoulder.

The Hess workers knew what to do because Martin Albach had gone to the station several times in the past week, asking about the monkey. "He was really upset," Miller said.

When Coco got back, Albach fed her, gave her some herbal tea, which acts as a sedative, a vitamin B-12 shot and then a flea dip. He and his son took turns staying up until about 5 a.m. to make sure she was all right. The monkey didn't appear to have lost weight during her odyssey, Albach said.

Now, the zoo owners are building a second door on the outside of her new cage, one that will act as a lock so she can't just run out again. One swinging door wasn't enough to hold her last Saturday night.

Coco and some other animals had been to a nursing home in Brooklyn to entertain the residents, and she was brought back to the big cage that had recently been built for her.

The cage was strange, and Coco was tired. "She went in, and went right out the door. She climbed a tree," Albach said. "In the morning, she was in another tree." The tree was about 30 feet tall. It was a lot bigger than the 7-foot fence around the zoo property.

Albach doesn't know when Coco climbed over the fence and walked across the road. "She was playing hide and seek with us," he said. "Was I upset? I haven't slept in three nights."

Albach said Coco seemed to have enjoyed her little stroll through the wilds of Manorville, even if she didn't get the three regular meals a day that she is used to. The lumber for the double-door entrance to her new cage was still on the ground yesterday, waiting to be securely anchored. "That's what we should have done in the first place," Albach said.
August 09, 2001
http://www.herald-mail.com/news/2001/08/09/local/W_Va__women_say_pet_mon.html
W.Va. women say pet monkey bit kids
By ANDREW SCHOTZ

A pet monkey that allegedly bit three south Berkeley County children is under quarantine while it's tested for diseases.

Helena Hendricks said her 15-year-old daughter, Brandy Brooks, has had two blood samples drawn so she could be tested for herpes, tuberculosis, HIV and other conditions.

Brandy said she was bitten outside her home at Eastwood Trailer Home Park, off W.Va. 51, on July 27. As she greeted some new neighbors, she noticed that the monkey she said belonged to a neighbor had gotten loose, so she tried to use a Cheeto as a lure to catch it.

The monkey took the Cheeto, then jumped up and bit her once inside her left elbow and once on her outer right wrist, Brandy said. The small wounds were visible on her arms Thursday, one day after the county's Animal Control Department confiscated the monkey.

Michelle Heminway said her 10-year-old daughter Destiny was also bitten July 27, about a week after she moved into the trailer park from Shepherdstown, W.Va.

Heminway planned to take Destiny to the hospital for testing Thursday night. Destiny had a mark on her arm from the bite, which may not have broken the skin.

The Berkeley County Sheriff's Department identified the third victim as 3-year-old Tina Maddox, whose family also lives at Eastwood. Tina was bitten several days before the other two girls, Hendricks said.

Hendricks said the monkey, which is kept on a dog leash, has gotten loose several times in the approximately four months it has been at Eastwood. She said the incident has left her "stressed out."

There is apparently nothing in West Virginia's laws that prevents keeping a monkey as a pet. The state's Department of Health and Human Resources, Department of Agriculture and Division of Natural Resources do not have guidelines covering monkeys or other exotic animals, so they are not regulated, officials from those agencies said.

An owner only needs a permit "if the animal has historically lived (in the state)," said Art Shomo, a public information specialist for the Division of Natural Resources. That would include anything from a raccoon to a wolf or a buffalo, he said.

The identity of the monkey's owner could not be confirmed Thursday, although Hendricks and Heminway pointed to a trailer.

No one answered the door at that trailer Thursday evening. Hendricks said the monkey is called Nay-Nay.

The case is new territory for Berkeley County authorities, who said they have never investigated a monkey bite before.

If the animal were a dog, the procedure would be obvious, said County Commissioner Robert Burkhart. "This is a whole new ball game."

The monkey appears to be a macaque, possibly a Rhesus, which is native to southern Asia. It has a small head and a long tail.

Berkeley County Animal Control Officer Ray Strine said he hopes the monkey is not confined long at his office. The monkey urinates on others when it's agitated, and must be separated from the dogs, Strine said.

Lt. K.C. Bohrer of the sheriff's department, who is investigating the bites, said he has heard of other people in the county owning monkeys.

Strine said the last investigation into exotic animals, in 1997, involved a woman who owned a cougar, a llama, two emus, a wolf and a fallow deer.

07/19/2001
http://phoenixnewtimes.com/issues/2001-07-19/news2.html

Macaque Attack
Emotional case resolves youngster's future
By Maria Luisa Tucker

Two-year-old Mason Alan couldn't have known about the fierce custody battle raging between his original adoptive parents and another caretaker struggling to keep the youngster at her side.

Nor would he have cared.

The brown-eyed, brown-haired imp just wanted what all babies want: loving arms to hold him, food in his belly, a place to sleep following another busy day spent with his playmates.

The court case involving Mason, which was decided by a Maricopa County jury in May, unfolded like thousands of custody wars fought before it.

Emotions ran high over the little guy, with talk of his best interests, rightful guardianship and even threats of violence rocking the lives of Shirley Godee, Kimberly Connell and Richard Smith, according to court papers.

Jurors ultimately decided to let Mason stay at Godee's home, among his own kind, grooming his playmates, swinging from ropes.

Mason is a macaque monkey.

"It was like losing a child," says Connell.

Connell and Smith declined repeated requests for further comment, following a loss they say broke their hearts.

What began as either a pet-sitting gig or an adoption -- depending on which side you choose to believe -- became the first civil court case of its kind in Arizona, with two people suing to recover a monkey, according to the attorney representing Godee.

In the summer of 1999, Mason the monkey was living with Connell and Smith in Nevada. The couple decided to move to Connecticut, where exotic pets like Mason are not allowed. They found a new home for the monkey with Godee, a Maricopa County resident who already had two other macaques. Mason moved from his Las Vegas home to Maricopa County in August of that year and Connell and Smith headed east.

At the time of the transfer, Mason was just 2 1/2 years old. In another year or two he would reach maturity, weighing about 15 to 25 pounds and standing almost two feet tall, not including his tail.

Just weeks after the move, however, Connell and Smith decided they wanted their monkey back, though it is unclear whether they planned to take him to Connecticut or have Godee keep him until they moved back. When they asked Godee to hand over Mason, she refused.

That's when things got ugly.

The battle for the monkey mushroomed from a dispute between animal lovers, to formal complaints, to a civil lawsuit.

In December 1999, Connell submitted a complaint to the Maricopa County Superior Court asking for a judgment to recover personal property she claimed was being unlawfully detained. In the complaint, Connell stated that Godee had agreed to return Mason on demand at any time during the two months following his arrival at her home.

Godee denied that agreement existed, and responded with a counterclaim seeking damages for emotional distress. The counterclaim states that Smith, during a phone call, "threatened Godee with coming to Arizona and putting a gun to her head," according to court documents.

Both complaint and counterclaim went unresolved after a mediation session was offered, so Connell filed a formal lawsuit.

Because the parties agreed to have their case heard in a special speedy format, no transcript of the trial exists. According to other court documents, Connell emphasized legal ownership of the monkey, while Godee built her case around what she believed were Mason's best interests. A blank certificate of ownership and the original agreement between Connell, Smith and Godee were cornerstones of the dispute.

Godee argued that Mason had already become part of a troop with her other macaques and said his health could suffer if he was removed. Further, she argued, Mason had gained weight and grown a fuller coat in her care. She claimed in court papers that Mason was too small for his age when he came to live with her.

Connell and Smith maintained that a member of the family had been ripped away from them and said Godee had not kept her word.

"It was a difficult case," says Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Hotham, who presided over the trial. "They talked in terms of being parents."

The jury was instructed to answer one legal question -- was Mason being "wrongfully detained" by Godee? The four jurors found he wasn't and unanimously voted in favor of her continued custody of the monkey. Godee won nothing for her counterclaim of emotional distress.

"We really felt for the client [Connell], but the paperwork was not legal," says one of the jurors, who has asked to remain anonymous. "We thought there was something funny about the whole situation . . . but like we said, our hands were tied," she says, adding that there appeared to be a miscommunication about the paperwork with the woman who delivered Mason to Godee's home.

Though Godee also refused to comment, photos of her two other macaques are available online through the "munky mugs" link.

Godee. It is clear that she treats her monkeys like a doting mother.

The care and expense of caring for monkeys can create a bond that surpasses the love of an average pet, says Lu Hall, treasurer of the Simian Society of America.

"The love you feel for a monkey is similar to the love you have for your children," she says.

And if a pet is like a family member, then a monkey is the problem child.

Hall, a fellow macaque monkey owner, has traded animal advice with Godee for years, and says they both know all about monkey trouble.

Though monkeys are cute and easily handled as babies, when they reach sexual maturity they often become erratic creatures that can wreak havoc, kind of like teenagers, except they can stay that way for 30-odd years.

Monkeys, especially larger ones like macaques, can injure caretakers with bites and scratches, and can easily get into cabinets and destroy furnishings.

Buying a macaque costs between $3,500 to $6,000, says Hall, and contact with the animal, in addition to feeding and cleaning the cages, requires a minimum of four hours a day.

The time and money devoted to a pet don't matter in court.

"I know they can be a substitute for a child," says Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Bethany Hicks, who presides over family court. But in Arizona a pet is considered property.

Hicks and her colleagues occasionally see pet custody become an issue in divorce cases. It has become such an issue for some people that one Web site, petcustody.com, sells legal forms to protect a pet owner's rights. The forms include addenda that cover the ownership of pets in pre-nuptial agreements and divorce decrees, to documents outlining pet-visitation rights.

There was a time when people treated their pets like pets, says local pet counselor Kay Cox.

"In today's world we've made our animals our children," she says.

The Mirror
June 16, 2001, Saturday

SEXY SALMA IN APE BITE FRIGHT

BY: Heather Ramsay

STUNNING Salma Hayek was attacked by a monkey on the set of her latest movie. The 34-year-old actress suffered nerve and ligament damage after the angry ape sank its teeth into the leading lady.

Wild Wild West star Salma was filming new film Frida in Mexico when she was attacked.

She said: "It went for my face but got my hands, arms and fingers as I defended myself. I'm marked for life. The bites were extremely painful."

The capuchin monkey had been hired to be the on-screen pet of her character, real-life artist Frida Kahlo.

Omaha World-Herald
June 15, 2001, Friday METRO EDITION

Monkey in Zoo's Jungle Bites Hand That Feeds It
NIZ PROSKOCIL

A squirrel monkey roaming freely inside the Lied Jungle at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo bit a woman's finger last week after she offered it a cookie.

Zoo director Dr. Lee Simmons said the woman, Latoya Felder, was attempting to feed the monkey a cookie when it nipped her finger June 9. "It was not a serious bite," Simmons said. "A monkey that size isn't capable of it."

The monkey in question weighs 1 pound, he said. This is the second monkey in a month to bite a Doorly Zoo visitor.

Simmons said it's unfortunate that Felder was bitten, but that she should have known better. Signs throughout the zoo prohibit feeding the animals.

Simmons considers the monkey's behavior "standard operating procedure."

"If you give them something, they'll want to take it."

Felder was treated at the zoo's Health Hut, where a nurse cleaned and bandaged the cut above her fingernail.

"We're sorry this happened," Simmons said. "We don't want anybody hurt in no shape or form, but if everybody reads the signs and obeys the rule, then this wouldn't happen." Felder could not be reached for comment.

Thursday, 05/31/01
Parents sue after girl bitten by chimp
By JANET LETHGO, Staff Writer

FRANKLIN - Monkey flees, monkey sued. The owner of a chimpanzee film performer that bit a girl last year at a video store promotion here is among those facing a lawsuit filed by the girl's family.

The suit names Sidney Jay Yost (also known as Ranger Rick Kelly), who owns chimp Angel Holliday, production company Critter Gitters and Blockbuster Inc., the video store where the chimpanzee and his owner were appearing as a promotion for a film.

Yost, who lives in California, was issued a citation for violating Tennessee's exotic animal law, but he failed to show up in court and has never paid the fine. Also, the lawsuit alleges that Yost left the state with Angel before the animal could be quarantined, as is customary in bite cases.

Gordon and Lynn Hampton are seeking $50,000 in damages, according to their lawyer, Charles G. Blackard III, for their daughter Haley's pain and suffering and problems she may have after the April 9, 2000, incident at the Williamson Square Blockbuster Video.

Yost and Angel were in the video store promoting their latest Critter Gitters movie, The High Sierra Adventure, one of a series of children's films. The girl's parents had just snapped a photo of her with Angel when the chimp bit her.

''There is a question whether the teeth may have gone through her whole hand. She had some stitches and swelling, but no reconstructive surgery. It was a pretty fierce bite,'' Blackard said.

According to the lawsuit, Yost, Critter Gitters and Blockbuster should have known of the dangers of subjecting Angel to a crowded area with so many children, and Yost and Critter Gitters should have obtained an exotic wildlife permit from Tennessee.

Yost did autograph a picture of Angel and himself. Inscribed was a message to Haley: ''We are so sorry and hope you get well soon. .''

Blackard said none of the parties listed in the lawsuit offered to pay for medical expenses.

Angel should have been quarantined for observation just like any other animal that bites a human, Blackard said.

The absence of the chimp and her handler left the Hamptons worried about potential disease.

Thursday, 05/31/01
Family of chimp bite victim seeks $50,000
By JANET LETHGO, Staff Writer

FRANKLIN - It was bad enough that chimpanzee Angel Holliday bit a little girl, but the monkey's business got even more complicated when its owner left the state and the family wondering whether the toothy primate had any contagious diseases.

So the girl's family will sue Angel's owner, Sidney Jay Yost (also known as Ranger Rick Kelly), production company Critter Gitters and Blockbuster Inc., the video store where the chimpanzee chomped almost clear through the girl's hand a year ago in April.

Gordon and Lynn Hampton are seeking $50,000 in damages, according to their lawyer, Charles G. Blackard III, for their daughter Haley's pain and suffering and possible future problems she may have after the chimp attack at the Williamson Square Blockbuster Video.

The girl, 9, was there at the same time Yost and Angel were in the video tore promoting their latest Critter Gitter movie, The High Sierra Adventure, one of a series of children's films. The High Sierra Adventure is about the Critter Gitters traveling deep into the Sierra Mountains to uncover the mystery of an unusual bear encounter. Blockbuster was promoting the film with Yost and Angel's appearance.

Angel and Yost live in California. The girl's parents had just snapped a photo of their daughter and Angel, when the chimp bit her.

''There is a question whether the teeth may have gone through her whole hand. She had some stitches and swelling, but no reconstructive surgery. It was a pretty fierce bite,'' said lawyer Blackard.

But, according to the lawsuit, Yost, Critter Gitters and Blockbuster should have known of the inherent dangers of subjecting Angel to a crowded area with so many children present, and Yost and Critter Gitters also should have obtained an exotic wildlife permit from the state of Tennessee. Yost was issued a citation for violating the state's exotic animal law, but he failed to return to show up in court for a hearing on the violation and has never paid the fine.

Yost did autograph a picture of Angel and himself with a message to Haley: ''We are so sorry and hope you get well soon.''

Blackard said that none of the parties listed in the suit ever offered to pay for the immediate medical expenses incurred when the chimp bit.

The chimpanzee attack has left Haley with scars on her hand, but it also changed the way she feels about animals of all kinds.

''It had a lasting effect on her. She is not as enamored with animals as she once was. The family feels that they needed to pursue it; the way it was handled was pretty discouraging,'' Blackard said.

The Ledger (Lakeland, FL)
May 17, 2001, Thursday

POLK HEALTH OFFICIALS PLAN TO EXAMINE THE TINY MARMOSET FOR HERPES AND RABIES; BITING MONKEY'S OWNER COMES FORWARD

ERIC PERA The Ledger

LAKELAND -- An infant South American marmoset that bit two people at a Lakeland art festival last weekend likely will be placed in quarantine today and examined for a dangerous virus and rabies.

Sandra Crossman of Auburndale, owner of the pint-sized primate, came forward Wednesday after learning her monkey was the subject of a Health Department search.

Health officials Wednesday issued Crossman an order for quarantine, stemming from Saturday's attack of two people at Mayfaire by-the-Lake, an annual art festival at Lake Morton.

Dr. Daniel Haight, Polk County's health director, said that because the tiny monkey is a pet, chances are slim that it carries rabies. Additionally, he said, "It appears that the monkey is of a species that tends to not carry the herpes B (virus). That helps reduce the risk."

Because Crossman did not register her exotic pet, as required by law, a state wildlife officer will inspect her home sometime today to determine whether she is complying with other regulations.

Crossman, a nurse, faces a fine for failing to register her monkey with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

She also could be fined and charged with failing to keep her pet under control, said commission spokesman Gary Morse. "People who have these type of pets need to be aware of the laws."

Reached at her home Wednesday night, Crossman said she didn't know that she needed a state license to keep the marmoset she purchased as a 2-week-old in October.

She said she contacted health officials immediately Wednesday morning after reading The Ledger and learning that officials wanted to find her. "I will do whatever they tell me to do," she said. "Now my concern is my little monkey."

While attending Mayfaire on Saturday, Crossman carried her pet monkey in a canvas bag and posed for pictures. Spectators were drawn to the tiny, bug-eating simian, which was attached to a leash.

But the seemingly docile marmoset leapt from Crossman's bag and bit or scratched two bystanders, both of whom sought medical treatment for herpes B, which can be fatal if left untreated.

Betsy Floyd, 50, of Bartow, said she never even noticed Crossman until her pet clamped its teeth into Floyd's palm.

"It came at me really quick," she said. "It scared me."

Floyd, who owns a title insurance company, said she dismissed the incident until she read of a similar incident in Wednesday's Ledger and discovered that monkey bites can be dangerous, even fatal.

Minutes after biting Floyd, the monkey bit and scratched Michael Butler, 42, of Lakeland, who was treated for a minor bite and scratches on his left forearm.

Butler, a self-employed home inspector, and Floyd said they didn't get Crossman's name after the incidents, which spurred the search by health officials.

Butler was interviewed Wednesday by Tampa radio and television stations in hopes that the monkey's owner would be found in time for him to avoid rabies shots.

Crossman's pet will be held by Polk Animal Services for a minimum of 10 days, although it was unclear Wednesday evening who would be responsible for confiscating the animal, Morse said.

"There's always questions when it comes to jurisdiction of this kind of stuff," he said.

Richard Cutforth, a mechanical engineer from Winter Haven who was taking photographs Saturday at Mayfaire, couldn't resist squeezing a few shots of the perky marmoset.

"It even jumped on my shoulder," Cutforth said, "but it didn't seem aggressive at all."

Butler and Floyd said they were relieved to know the animal's owner was complying with health officials, but they felt Crossman should have taken more care with her pet at a public event.

"Once it bit somebody, she should have left immediately," Butler said.

Eric Pera can be reached at eric.pera@theledger.com or 863-802-7528.

National Conference of State Legislatures
May 1, 2001
SECTION: No. 5, Vol. 27; Pg. 9 ; ISSN: 0147-6041

MONKEY BUSINESS NOT WHAT YOU THINK; proposed amendment to prohibit monkeys as pets

Zoo officials and animal rescue activists are trying to make it harder to buy and sell pet monkeys. For between $ 1,800 to $ 25,000, you can buy a cute, diapered infant monkey through the Internet or newspaper ads. But owners are finding out that wild means just that; as they grow they bite people and destroy property. That's when the calls come to the zoo and rescue centers begging them to take the little hooligans away. In Kentucky, the activists sought an amendment to the state's Dangerous Animal Act that would classify all non-human primates as dangerous animals. It found opponents in pet shop owners and animal breeders who argued they would be put out of business by the amendment. The business owners won.

The Jerusalem Post
March 14, 2001, Wednesday

How to cope with monkey business and come up smiling
By: D'Vora Ben Shaul

Everyone I have ever known who had a pet monkey had problems with it. Here's what a reader in the coastal plain writes:

"I have a two-year-old squirrel monkey (captive born). She is very sweet and loving, but sometimes bites me. Since she is so small the bites usually don't even break the skin, but they do leave a bruise. "She has a large cage, 3.5 meters high, 2.5 m. long and 2 m. deep. She gets good food, but seems unwell - she mopes, doesn't play with her toys as she used to and doesn't eat as well.

"I took her to a veterinarian and he examined her - he even did a chest X-ray - but he said she is healthy. What can I do?"

As to the first problem - well, monkeys bite! Little monkeys have little bites and big monkeys have big bites, but they all bite. It is usually from frustration, but what you describe isn't a real bite.

Monkeys have very sharp little teeth and can give a respectable bite when they wish. What you most likely have here is a case of affection mixed with frustration.

Since your pet doesn't have tuberculosis (the great killer of captive monkeys), I would explore two avenues. First, diet.

This should include not only fruit and vegetables but nuts and cereal products such as whole-grain bread and whole-grain cooked cereal or oatmeal. Don't forget eggs. In the wild squirrel monkeys do a lot of nest robbing and will even eat unhatched embryos, so a small sliver of cooked chicken breast now and then will not go amiss. But avoid sweets, potatoes and salt.

If your pet's diet is satisfactory, however, she may simply be lonely. One thing you didn't mention was how much time she spends alone.

Squirrel monkeys are very gregarious and live in fairly large troupes, so keeping one in solitary confinement is not a good idea.

If you could get her another squirrel monkey as a companion that would be ideal, but she might well also make friends with a young kitten or even a long-haired cavy (whistler).

I have seen many lonely monkeys perk up once they had a companion.

In the meantime, leaving the radio on when she is alone, or even the TV, if she can see it, would probably help.

Remember that monkeys see extremely well and love color and motion. Toys that make a noise and move may also help. You will have to experiment and see what works best.

Chicago Tribune
March 7, 2001 Wednesday, LAKE EDITION

IT'S PET MONKEY BUSINESS AS USUAL AS STATE CURBS FAIL; HEALTH, SAFETY ISSUES DON'T SWAY LAWMAKERS

BY: By William Mullen, Tribune Staff Writer. Tribune staff writer Joe Biesk contributed to this report.

When it comes to pets, few are more expensive than cute, doe-eyed, diapered infant monkeys that exotic animal dealers peddle over the Internet and through newspaper want ads from $1,800 to $25,000.

"They are sweet and they are fun, when they're babies," said April Truitt, owner of a Kentucky rescue center that takes in abandoned monkeys, "but it's another story when they get to be adults and they start biting everybody in the house. "That's when people start calling us, sobbing into the phone, hoping and begging us to take the little buggers off their hands."

Reacting to an unending string of bitten and injured owners bloodied by adopted monkeys, zoo officials and animal welfare activists went to Springfield Tuesday to campaign for more stringent controls on the pet monkey trade in the state. They met with overwhelming resistance, however, as the House Agriculture Committee for the second year in a row killed the measure.

The activists had sought an amendment to the state's Dangerous Animal Act that would classify all non-human primates as dangerous animals.

"Pet monkeys have become both a public health concern and a safety concern," Dr. David Bromwell, the state Department of Agriculture veterinarian, said before the hearing. "They are carriers of several threatening human diseases, including hepatitis. As they mature, they are not gentle, easily controlled animals. They can and they do bite people, often children."

Opponents of the proposed legislation at the hearing, including pet shop owners and animal breeders, argued they would be put out of business by the amendment.
Most of the testimony for the amendment emphasized that primates, from spider monkeys to chimpanzees, are wild animals with dangerous and unpredictable behaviors.

"They should never be thought of as pets," said Peter Bukowski, a chastened Chicago construction contractor who bought a 3-week-old male capuchin monkey, Oliver, from a dealer in Indiana five years ago.

Bukowski, who emigrated with his wife, Marzena, and daughter, Monika, from Poland 11 years ago, said he paid $3,000 for Oliver, to fulfill his wife's dream, harbored since reading Pippi Longstocking stories as a girl, of owning a monkey.

Oliver was adorable, said Bukowski, but so miserable when left alone at night that Bukowski and his wife soon had him in diapers and in their bed.

The Bukowskis soon had to strip the room of any movable objects.

"He would grab perfume bottles and empty them into his hands and rub all over himself," said Bukowski. "We installed special locks on the dresser drawers, because he would open them up and fling the contents all over the room."

It got worse.

"He would grab a sharp knife and run around with it, and the older he got, the less he listened when I commanded him to drop things," said Bukowski.

"Once he jumped on my daughter's neck with a knife and was waving it about her face."

Still, Oliver was a charmer.

"We have dogs and cats, and we love them," said Bukowski, "but a monkey is something special. They look in your eyes with such intelligence, and they reach out and stroke your face with the palms of their beautiful little hands. We were so nuts about Oliver, we put up with the bad stuff."

They did, at least, until he reached sexual maturity last summer. Then, on the deck of their vacation home in Wisconsin, he attacked Bukowski.

"He had grabbed a gallon of deck sealant, and when I told him to put it down, he leaped on me, biting my belly, making me bleed.

"Once he bit me the first time and saw me withdraw, then the violence skyrocketed. He contested everything I said or did, and any movement or look could spark an attack."

Desperate, they called Brookfield Zoo's primate experts to see if they could take Oliver.

The zoo gets dozens of such calls every year from owners of pet monkeys, said Melinda Pruitt-Jones, Brookfield's primate curator. A mother called her last Friday, she said, begging her to take the family's 6-year-old monkey, which had started biting her young children.

"Human-raised monkeys come to us unsocialized and maladjusted, and we can't place them with our monkeys, so we just don't take people's pets," she said.

With help from Truitt, Oliver finally was placed in a sanctuary in San Antonio.

Nobody knows how many primates are kept in the U.S. as pets in private homes, because virtually no laws regulate primate breeding and sales or set standards of keeping them. Pet monkeys are thought to number in the thousands nationally and at least in the hundreds in Illinois.

Chicago's Animal Control Department gets roughly 10 calls per year from people asking to have a pet monkey removed from their home. Cook County gets a similar number of calls, while zoos get dozens of calls annually from people asking officials to take away loved but dangerous pets.

Pruitt-Jones, who went to Springfield with Brookfield Zoo Director George Rabb to join other animal experts in favoring the amendment, said the problem is that the trade in monkeys is very lucrative.

"This is a growing commercial trade," she said, "where breeders pull newborns at 1 week old and put them on the market in newspapers and now nationwide on the Internet. They charge $3,000 to $4,000 for a spider monkey baby, $2,500 to $4,500 for a capuchin, $2,000 for a golden lion tamarin.

"A gibbon or a chimpanzee could go for as much as $50,000 or more. There are a lot of unfortunate things happening to people and to animals because of the money involved."

The Illinois Dangerous Animal Act forbids people from keeping big cats like lions and tigers as pets, as well as bears, hyenas, wolves, coyotes and dangerous reptiles.

At hearings on the proposed legislation, monkey owner Robert Hoffmann, president of Animal Kingdom Inc. in Chicago, testified against the bill.

"In terms of a danger to the public, any responsible owner is like driving a car responsibly," Hoffmann said. "I have a monkey, like I said, he goes literally to hundreds of schools and sees thousands of kids. And they're all able to pet him and touch him while I'm there. I'm there to supervise. Would I leave him alone with the kids? Absolutely not. Because under those circumstances, as soon as the kids start to grab or try to do something they shouldn't, he might nip. But as long as I'm there supervising, I watch the kids--I don't let the kids yank his tail or do anything like that."

Chicago Tribune
March 7, 2001 Wednesday
LAKE EDITION
IT'S PET MONKEY BUSINESS AS USUAL AS STATE CURBS FAIL;
HEALTH, SAFETY ISSUES DON'T SWAY LAWMAKERS

BY: By William Mullen, Tribune Staff Writer. Tribune staff writer Joe Biesk contributed to this report

When it comes to pets, few are more expensive than cute, doe-eyed, diapered infant monkeys that exotic animal dealers peddle over the Internet and through newspaper want ads from $1,800 to $25,000.

"They are sweet and they are fun, when they're babies," said April Truitt, owner of a Kentucky rescue center that takes in abandoned monkeys, "but it's another story when they get to be adults and they start biting everybody in the house.

"That's when people start calling us, sobbing into the phone, hoping and begging us to take the little buggers off their hands."

Reacting to an unending string of bitten and injured owners bloodied by adopted monkeys, zoo officials and animal welfare activists went to Springfield Tuesday to campaign for more stringent controls on the pet monkey trade in the state. They met with overwhelming resistance, however, as the House Agriculture Committee for the second year in a row killed the measure.

The activists had sought an amendment to the state's Dangerous Animal Act that would classify all non-human primates as dangerous animals.

"Pet monkeys have become both a public health concern and a safety concern," Dr. David Bromwell, the state Department of Agriculture veterinarian, said before the hearing. "They are carriers of several threatening human diseases, including hepatitis. As they mature, they are not gentle, easily controlled animals. They can and they do bite people, often children."

Opponents of the proposed legislation at the hearing, including pet shop owners and animal breeders, argued they would be put out of business by the amendment.

Most of the testimony for the amendment emphasized that primates, from spider monkeys to chimpanzees, are wild animals with dangerous and unpredictable behaviors.

"They should never be thought of as pets," said Peter Bukowski, a chastened Chicago construction contractor who bought a 3-week-old male capuchin monkey, Oliver, from a dealer in Indiana five years ago.

Bukowski, who emigrated with his wife, Marzena, and daughter, Monika, from Poland 11 years ago, said he paid $3,000 for Oliver, to fulfill his wife's dream, harbored since reading Pippi Longstocking stories as a girl, of owning a monkey.

Oliver was adorable, said Bukowski, but so miserable when left alone at night that Bukowski and his wife soon had him in diapers and in their bed.

The Bukowskis soon had to strip the room of any movable objects.

"He would grab perfume bottles and empty them into his hands and rub all over himself," said Bukowski. "We installed special locks on the dresser drawers, because he would open them up and fling the contents all over the room."

It got worse.

"He would grab a sharp knife and run around with it, and the older he got, the less he listened when I commanded him to drop things," said Bukowski. "Once he jumped on my daughter's neck with a knife and was waving it about her face."

Still, Oliver was a charmer.

"We have dogs and cats, and we love them," said Bukowski, "but a monkey is something special. They look in your eyes with such intelligence, and they reach out and stroke your face with the palms of their beautiful little hands. We were so nuts about Oliver, we put up with the bad stuff."

They did, at least, until he reached sexual maturity last summer. Then, on the deck of their vacation home in Wisconsin, he attacked Bukowski.

"He had grabbed a gallon of deck sealant, and when I told him to put it down, he leaped on me, biting my belly, making me bleed.

"Once he bit me the first time and saw me withdraw, then the violence skyrocketed. He contested everything I said or did, and any movement or look could spark an attack."

Desperate, they called Brookfield Zoo's primate experts to see if they could take Oliver.

The zoo gets dozens of such calls every year from owners of pet monkeys, said Melinda Pruitt-Jones, Brookfield's primate curator. A mother called her last Friday, she said, begging her to take the family's 6-year-old monkey, which had started biting her young children.

"Human-raised monkeys come to us unsocialized and maladjusted, and we can't place them with our monkeys, so we just don't take people's pets," she said.

With help from Truitt, Oliver finally was placed in a sanctuary in San Antonio.

Nobody knows how many primates are kept in the U.S. as pets in private homes, because virtually no laws regulate primate breeding and sales or set standards of keeping them. Pet monkeys are thought to number in the thousands nationally and at least in the hundreds in Illinois.

Chicago's Animal Control Department gets roughly 10 calls per year from people asking to have a pet monkey removed from their home. Cook County gets a similar number of calls, while zoos get dozens of calls annually from people asking officials to take away loved but dangerous pets.

Pruitt-Jones, who went to Springfield with Brookfield Zoo Director George Rabb to join other animal experts in favoring the amendment, said the problem is that the trade in monkeys is very lucrative.

"This is a growing commercial trade," she said, "where breeders pull newborns at 1 week old and put them on the market in newspapers and now nationwide on the Internet. They charge $3,000 to $4,000 for a spider monkey baby, $2,500 to $4,500 for a capuchin, $2,000 for a golden lion tamarin.

"A gibbon or a chimpanzee could go for as much as $50,000 or more. There are a lot of unfortunate things happening to people and to animals because of the money involved."

The Illinois Dangerous Animal Act forbids people from keeping big cats like lions and tigers as pets, as well as bears, hyenas, wolves, coyotes and dangerous reptiles.

At hearings on the proposed legislation, monkey owner Robert Hoffmann, president of Animal Kingdom Inc. in Chicago, testified against the bill.

"In terms of a danger to the public, any responsible owner is like driving a car responsibly," Hoffmann said. "I have a monkey, like I said, he goes literally to hundreds of schools and sees thousands of kids. And they're all able to pet him and touch him while I'm there. I'm there to supervise. Would I leave him alone with the kids? Absolutely not. Because under those circumstances, as soon as the kids start to grab or try to do something they shouldn't, he might nip. But as long as I'm there supervising, I watch the kids--I don't let the kids yank his tail or do anything like that."

The Standard (St. Catharines)
February 21, 2001 Wednesday Final Edition
Crystal Beach Girl 'traumatized' by bite from spider monkey

A young Crystal Beach girl who had the tip of a finger bitten off by a monkey at a Stevensville petting zoo Sunday afternoon spent Sunday night having nightmares about being attacked by the creatures, says her mother.

"She said there were three monkeys after her," said Joanne Rutter. "She was absolutely traumatized."

Audrey Rutter, 6, was visiting Papa Steve's Petting Zoo at the Stevensville Garden Gallery with her parents when one of the zoo's two spider monkeys bit about one centimetre off the tip of the girl's right index finger. Doctors at Greater Niagara General Hospital were unable to reattach the recovered portion of her finger, but a specialist was to perform surgery Monday in an effort to minimize long-term effects of the bite.

Kansas City Star
February 19, 2001, Monday METROPOLITAN EDITION
Boy's ordeal after monkey bite leads to legislation on exotic pets

BILL GRAHAM

After a neighbor's rhesus macaque monkey jumped on Ethan Sickman's shoulder last July and bit his arm, the young boy was left terrified and bleeding.

For Larry and Lori Sickman of Platte County, what at first seemed like a traumatic but simple bite wound has led to fear of life-threatening diseases and a series of rabies shots for their son, now 8.

That's because no Missouri law gives authorities the power to impound exotic animals such as monkeys - and the monkey's owners declined to sacrifice its life so it could be tested as a rabies carrier. "I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy," Larry Sickman said. "I wouldn't want to see anybody's children have to go through this treatment. Nothing's more heartbreaking than to see my child down because of these rabies shots."

The monkey's owners, Steve and Shelly Bowman, the Sickmans' next-door neighbors in a rural subdivision northwest of Parkville, have declined to comment.

The disease threat from monkeys is significant, said Kirk Suedmeyer, senior staff veterinarian at the Kansas City Zoo.

Studies show most macaques in captivity carry simian B virus, a form of herpes that is harmless to macaques but can be deadly to humans. Macaque monkeys, which can weigh up to 40 pounds, also can transmit other viruses, bacteria, toxic amoebas, hepatitis and tuberculosis.

The Bowmans did have a veterinarian test the monkey for simian B virus, and it was negative, according to Platte County Health Department records. Ethan also has been tested for the virus, which involves giving blood samples. So far, his tests have proved negative, too.

Yet the Sickmans and health officials had no recourse to require further testing of the monkey. Platte County's health codes - as do many community codes - deal only with bites by cats, dogs and ferrets.

After learning of the Sickmans' case, Missouri state Sen. Sidney Johnson introduced legislation to close the loophole by giving state health officials the legal authority to quarantine and test any animal that bites someone. Pet owners would be responsible for medical testing costs or damages as a result of a bite.

Kansas has a law requiring that any animal that bites a person be observed or tested for disease.

Johnson's bill recently was approved by the Public Health & Welfare Committee and will be considered by the full Senate. Larry and Lori Sickman testified in favor of the bill.

State health officials such as Howard Pue, Missouri public health veterinarian, support it, too.

Exotic pets such as monkeys are becoming more common, Pue noted. Missouri is a haven for exotic-animal auctions and sales. During Pue's two years as public health veterinarian, he has investigated at least three cases of monkey bites.

In the patchwork of city and county laws, some communities don't have ordinances to cover bites by dogs and cats, let alone exotic animals.

Kansas City does not allow exotic animals. But city codes provide the authority for testing any animal involved in a bite or attack. If an illegal exotic animal is found during a bite investigation, it is policy to euthanize it and test it for rabies.

Platte County's health and animal codes for rural areas authorize quarantines for dogs, cats and ferrets, but nothing else.

Johnson's bill is S.B. 0027.

A similar bill, H.B. 690 - sponsored by Rep. Meg Harding, a Democrat from the Northland - was introduced in the House of Representatives and referred to the Agriculture Committee. A hearing has not been scheduled.

Exotic pet ownership policy alters
www.stjoenews-press.com/Main.asp?SectionID=81&SubSectionID=272&ArticleID=17428
Feb. 19 2001
By SCOTT PUMMELL

New act signed by Holden will change past procedures

Eight-year-old Ethan Sickman had to suffer through a round of rabies shots and other vaccines after being bit by a rhesus monkey last summer.

That might not have been necessary if the monkey's owner would have allowed the animal to be tested. But the owner refused, and Ethan had to undergo shots and tests for three months.

Ethan's parents, Lori and Larry Sickman of Platte County, have spent the past year working to change state law so that the next person in Missouri bitten by an exotic animal will have more rights.

The culmination of the Sickmans' efforts came Thursday when Gov. Bob Holden signed into law the "Farmland Protection Act," an omnibus agriculture bill which included a provision with new restrictions for people who own exotic animals like rhesus monkeys.

Exotic pet owners will be required to turn the pets over for testing if they bite someone, something not previously required. It also gives authority to the state Department of Health to intervene and provide resources in these circumstances.

Another change will be making the pet owners - and not the person bitten - responsible for medical costs incurred because of any attack.

For the Sickmans, the medical costs ran into thousands of dollars.

"The next family that goes through this won't have to deal with a lot of these issues," Mrs. Sickman said. "That's why we worked so hard for this, to make sure that in the future no one else will have to go through as much as we did."

The Sickmans worked with state Sen. Sidney Johnson, D-Agency, to get the legislation passed.

Buffalo News (New York)
February 19, 2001, Monday, FINAL EDITION

FORT ERIE, Ont. -- A spider monkey bit the end off the finger of a 6-year-old girl Sunday afternoon at Steve's Petting Zoo on Stevensville Road.

The Niagara Regional Police said the Crystal Beach girl, accompanied by her father, had been petting one of two monkeys and then put her finger inside the cage. One of the monkeys bit one centimeter off the end of her right index finger.

The girl was taken by ambulance to Greater Niagara General Hospital, but physicians were unable to reattach the recovered portion of her finger.

http://www.vetcentric.com/magazine/magazineArticle.cfm?ARTICLEID=1896
The Monkey Business

January 02, 2001
Written by: Wes Alwan

Part I: Barrel of Monkeys, But Not of Laughs

Igor is terrified of Gibbons. In fact, Igor is so terrified of Gibbons that he becomes crazed and self-destructive at the mere site of them-tearing at his own arms until they bleed profusely. Oddly enough, Igor is not just afraid of Gibbons: he is a Gibbon.

Igor is one of many casualties of a booming U.S. pet trade in monkeys, a business that can be devastating to both animals and owners.

"Wild animals should not be pets," said Nicole Paquette, who is in charge of the Animal Protection Institute's campaign to ban private ownership of exotic pets, including non-human primates. "They deserve to be in their natural habitats-especially non-human primates, which come with numerous health and safety risks."

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Mature monkeys inevitably will challenge human owners for a higher position
in the family hierarchy. That often means biting, and because they have the
lowest position in the family hierarchy, children, one step above them,
often are the first to get bitten.
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The pet trade of primates has a typical cycle. Monkeys are sold as infants, when they are cute, docile, and similar enough to human infants that they wield a powerful emotional force over their owners. For about two years, these animals are raised as humans, and become completely socialized to their company. But at about two years of age, the animals become sexually mature, aggressive, and uncontrollable. Mature monkeys inevitably will challenge human owners for a higher position in the family hierarchy. That often means biting, and because they have the lowest position in the family hierarchy, children, one step above them, often are the first to get bitten.

"Kids will get bitten even for telling on a monkey," said Christine Camp-Scott, a breeder in the precarious position of both engaging in and discouraging the pet trade in monkeys. "The animals understand even subtle challenges to their behavior-if a child challenges a monkey, it gets bitten."

Once a child is bitten, the owner usually looks to get rid of the animal-often despite a strong emotional attachment.

Most owners, having paid as much as $6,000 for their pet, will resell it rather than give it to a sanctuary or zoo. A monkey may be passed around between naïve, would-be owners for some time. Because it is uncontrollable, the animal often is left neglected and isolated in small cage, until it becomes so obviously psychologically damaged that it cannot be resold or even given to a zoo.

"Zoos don't want washed-up pets," said Shirley McGreal, a chairperson for the International Primate Protection League and director of a League sanctuary in Summerville, South Carolina, where Igor currently is kept.

"They're too neurotic-and really, they're neither man nor beast, having adapted to human ways with considerable psychological stress."

Once they reach an animal sanctuary like hers, she added, these animals often never have seen another member of their own species.

Even monkeys like Igor-well-treated and taken care of by his human family-find themselves in a netherworld of mythological proportions when confronted with other members of their own species: not comfortable as a beast, but not capable of being civilized, these animals are robbed by the pet trade of something as valuable as it is intangible: their identity.

Supply: In the Jungle

In 1975, the import of monkeys for private ownership was banned in the United States, but selling and owning creatures bred in the United States generally remains legal-with state and county laws varying widely. And for the most part, the pet trade in non-human primates is highly unregulated. States may or may not required traders to be licensed, and certification by the United States Department of Agriculture is optional.

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Buyers are deceived by the docility and affectionate behavior of infant
monkeys-and are unpleasantly surprised when the animal matures.
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But even USDA certified traders are not required to test their animals for the herpes-B virus, which is especially prevalent in macaques, a popular species of monkey among buyers. Herpes-B is fatal to humans, and can be contracted not only from bites, but when monkeys shed it in saliva or genital secretions.

Reported cases of herpes-B infection are admittedly rare. According to the Center for Disease Control, there were less than 40 documented cases of herpes-B causing symptomatic infection in human beings between 1933 and 1994, and almost all occurred in laboratory workers.

Monkeys imported from the Third World are more likely to be infected with herpes-B than those bred on U.S. soil, where there is a higher likelihood that animals used for breeding have been tested. Consequently, there is a greater risk to owners that unknowingly receive an imported monkey. And there is no guarantee to buyers that a monkey isn't part of the $3 billion annual U.S. trade in illegal wildlife.

"There's been smuggling [of monkeys] from Mexico forever, and there always will be," said a source at the law enforcement division of the CDC. "There's no way to figure out how big it is, because you only know the ones you catch."

But beyond the possibility of infection, even some breeders agree with activists that monkeys simply do not make good pets. Buyers are deceived by the docility and affectionate behavior of infant monkeys-and are
unpleasantly surprised when the animal matures.

"A monkey doesn't remain like a child," said Ms. Camp-Scott, who keeps more than 100 monkeys in caged troops, as well as other animals ranging from zebras and large cats to a camel, at her home in Clewiston, Florida. "You have to accept the fact that one day, it's going to challenge your place in the family hierarchy."

Non-human primates have a strict social hierarchy. The dominant male of a macaque troop, for instance, is usually the first to eat at mealtimes, with males, a dominant female, and other females following in progression. Only the dominant male breeds at will, though he may let other males breed occasionally.

Monkeys treat their human family as the same sort of hierarchy. That means they will try to climb the social ladder, with tactics that naturally involve physical fights and biting. Human females will find it very
difficult to establish dominance with a male monkey. And children are in the most danger.

These rules apply even to the smallest and seemingly most innocuous of non-human primates. "Even the smaller ones like marmosets, which are less than half a pound, have razor sharp teeth," Ms. Camp-Scott said.

Ms. Camp-Scott claims that she doesn't sell to people with children, and tries to discourage buyers as much as possible with some of the horror stories of monkey ownership. She notes one case in which a woman kept a monkey in a dirty, two-foot cage in an RV without air conditioning during a Texas summer.

Ms. Camp-Scott discovered the situation and reported it to the USDA, which then gave the owner 30 days to correct the conditions. Instead, she sold her monkey at an auction. Within hours of getting to its new home, the animal bit off and swallowed the fingers of a child, and was subsequently euthanized.

Many stories of monkey attacks recently have been reported in the media. A little over a week ago, a Chicago woman was found bleeding to death by her husband after she let her seven year-old, 25-pound macaque out of its cage to "play." Still in the hospital, the woman received over a hundred stitches, and will require plastic surgery.

The incident occurred three days before the Illinois legislature defeated a law proposing a ban on the private ownership of non-human primates, among other exotic pets.

But even in more sanguine cases, after about two years of raising monkeys, owners often end up with animals they simply can't control, and have to give up.

"Monkeys don't make good pets," said Ms. Camp-Scott, who admits she feels like a hypocrite for selling infant monkeys in order to support her numerous caged animals. "For most people, getting a monkey is a very big, expensive, and heart-breaking mistake."

Part II: The Back Yard of Doctor Moreaux

Supply: Many Unhappy Returns

Some evenings a TV lies near the cage, blaring and flickering through a trash bag that protects it from pounding wind and rain. For Frankie, one of more than one hundred monkeys that Ms. Camp-Scott keeps at her home, the noise and colors are a relief.

In the absence of social interaction, Frankie had taken to grooming himself-grooming is a major form of social expression for monkeys. But grooming in isolation quickly became unfulfilling for the monkey, and it escalated to self-mutilation.

It seems that for Frankie, the pain was better than no stimulation at all. Now it takes the TV blaring all day to keep Frankie occupied enough that he doesn't hurt himself. After more than a year, Frankie has improved remarkably, but he still isn't ready to be caged with other animals of his own kind.

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"Really, I regret every monkey I put into the pet trade," Ms. Camp-Scott
said.
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Frankie started out at an amusement park called the Jungle Gym, in Miami. After the facility decided to get rid of its male monkeys because of their aggressiveness, Frankie was without a home.

Frankie was passed between numerous owners-who found, like many owners, that grown monkeys are uncontrollable. Instead of giving such creatures to a zoo or sanctuary, owners often try to get their money back by selling the creature to another unsuspecting buyer. In the meantime, the animal is left in its cage-often a small cage, since cages are expensive-and usually without stimulation.

Like many monkeys, Frankie was so psychologically damaged by that process and the abuse of owners that he finally ended up with an owner who couldn't find a buyer for him.

In 1999, Ms. Camp-Scott bought Frankie in his terrible condition, when no one else would take him. When she saw him, it didn't take long for her to realize that Frankie had passed through her hands before-about four years earlier, and in much better condition.

"I felt really guilty about Frankie," said Ms. Camp-Scott. "Really, I regret every monkey I put into the pet trade."

Nevertheless, she is still involved in selling infant monkeys to raise money that will give her numerous other animals the medical attention and food they need. Ms. Camp-Scott claims she will take back any animal she has sold, although she won't buy them back.

"A lot of people are dead set on getting a monkey-if they have to do it, I'd rather they do it from me, where they can give it back," she added, admitting that she feels like a "hypocrite."

Because pet monkeys have adapted to living with human beings, and prefer human company, socializing neurotic monkeys to live with other members of their own species is not easy.

"When they first come here, a lot have never even seen another monkey, and it scares the heck out of them," Ms. Camp-Scott said.

It can take a year of gradual exposure to its own species to introduce even a monkey that has been well treated by its human owners into a troop of other animals. Cases like Frankie's are even harder.

Ms. Camp-Scott notes that the worst part of being involved in the trade is the taking of an infant from its mother, although she claims she tries to take infants primarily from females that have a history of negligence to their offspring.

"The mother mourns, screams, will fight to the death for her infant, and often has to be tranquilized-in fact, the whole troop will fight," Ms. Camp-Scott said, noting that many traders will lie to buyers about the trauma caused by taking an infant. "The mother, as well as the whole troop will be depressed for months afterwards, and if they see the person who took [the infant]-no matter how much time has passed-they remember, and show their hatred."

Ms. Camp-Scott leaves the task of taking infants to her husband and another handler; her husband is hated by her caged monkeys, and many troops will huddle around an infant to guard it when they see him.

She recalls one case of a female monkey that kept dropping to the ground on its belly whenever her husband went near its cage. Thinking the behavior unusual, she investigated, and found out that the female had an infant, and was falling on top of it to hide it. Ms Camp-Scott hadn't even known of the animal's pregnancy.

Sellers will lie about the heartbreak caused by the pet trade in non-human primates, Ms. Camp-Scott said. She thinks buyers ought to know the truth.

Demand: Bringing Home Monkey

For all the problems and cruelties surrounding the private ownership of monkeys, why is owning one so alluring to many buyers?

According to Ms. Camp-Scott, monkeys are especially popular among couples who can't have children. She notes that adopting human infants is both difficult and expensive. "There is a very long waiting list for infant babies," Ms. Camp-Scott said.

"Monkeys return the kind of love that you get from no other animal-it is the closest thing to getting a newborn infant human child there is," she added. "It's unbelievable-the love that you have, the bonding process is about the same, and for a couple of years it is just like raising a human child."

Cheryl Hochstatler, a trader who also works at a car dealership in Bremen, Indiana, agrees.

"I couldn't live without them, " Ms. Hochstatler said. "They are so extremely intelligent, affectionate, loving, and playful."

Ms. Hochstatler, like Ms. Camp-Scott, tries to ward off buyers with warnings about the perils of ownership, and considers herself a responsible seller-providing health certificates, a requirement for United States
Department of Agriculture certified sellers, as well as disease test results.

Despite the warnings, both sellers acknowledge that the demand for non-human primate pets far outstrips the supply. Ms. Camp-Scott has a waiting list of over 300.

But the ultimate result of that demand is a host of psychologically damaged monkeys that end up in sanctuaries and facilities like Ms. Camp-Scott's-caught in a conflict between their social identification with human beings and the instinctual behavior of their own species.

"We consider the pet trade extremely abusive," said Shirley McGreal, chairperson for the International Primate Protection League, and director of a League sanctuary in Summerville, South Carolina. "It is not possible for a nice and compassionate person to be involved in this trade, which starts with an act of the most vicious cruelty: the kidnapping of the baby from the mother."

Whatever the ethics, almost everyone seems to agree with the general principle that monkeys shouldn't be pets-even when they succumb to their inclination to act against that advice.

The allure remains understandable: monkeys are a fascinating mix of the human and the wild. Our closest relatives in the animal kingdom, monkeys are often remarkably human in their behaviors, yet are not capable of being domesticated even to the least standards of an unruly housecat.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Despite the warnings, both sellers acknowledge that the demand for non-human
primate pets far outstrips the supply. Ms. Camp-Scott has a waiting list of
over 300.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the end, one doesn't have to search far for examples of our potent human identification with these animals, and what it says about us. Most of us were made in high school to read The Monkey's Paw, a story that effectively uses the symbol of the monkey in its analysis of human desire. Appropriately, the story is about the dangers of getting what we wish for: it is about getting caught-and hurt-in the machinery of our own desires.

Richmond Times Dispatch (Virginia)
December 31, 2000, Sunday, CITY EDITION

Those monkeys need a spanking.

Just north of Jarratt, three monkeys pelted cars on Interstate 95 with bananas and crab apples before running across the highway and disappearing into the woods.

Published Sunday, December 10, 2000
http://www.startribune.com/stOnLine/cgi-bin/article?thisSlug=PET10&date=10-Dec-2000

Pet talk: Looking for a pet? Expert says you don't want to monkey around
Mitzi Perdue / Scripps Howard News Service

Infant monkeys are adorable and in many ways like human babies. But if you ever have the urge to buy one for a pet, April Truitt has some advice for you:

Don't.

Truitt is the founder of the Primate Rescue Center (PRC) and knows why buying a monkey would be a really bad idea.

Why would anyone want a pet monkey?

The answer is that, in some circles, at least, a monkey is a status symbol. And people who long for children or who are going through empty-nest syndrome sometimes feel that a baby monkey could fill the gap.

The result is that hundreds of people in this country pay anywhere from $3,000 for a capuchin monkey to $40,000 for a female chimpanzee. It's legal and you can find infant monkeys for sale on the Internet.

However, if you do buy one of these animals it's just about guaranteed that you'll regret it. As Truitt says, "the media portray them as substitute humans, but what you don't see is that these animals are capable of inflicting horrendous damage."

Monkeys' capacity for doing "horrendous damage" is hard-wired into them. It's the result of the monkey's hierarchical nature.

When the monkey is an infant and dependent, it accepts a submissive role in the hierarchy. But as a monkey matures, it has an overwhelming instinct to climb to the top of the social group. In a human family, the monkey is apt to challenge and dominate the children first, because they're the weakest. The monkey's next target is the woman and, finally, the man.

Even a capuchin monkey, one that will never weigh more than 20 pounds, can seriously injure a 200-pound man. "By the time a capuchin is five years old," said Truitt, "he has figured out that he has the power and the artillery to injure his human captor."

The power and artillery that Truitt is referring to are the animal's teeth and nails. To see how this works in practice, take the case of Boog, a 10-year-old spider monkey who now lives at the PRC.

His former owner, a woman, bought Boog as an infant, thinking he would be a darling pet. However, at age 6, Boog decided one day that he absolutely didn't want to return to his cage. He went after the woman with his inch-long canines and weaponlike fingernails, plus his prehensile tail. The woman suffered severe gashes.

What Boog did was fairly typical. Generally by the time the PRC gets a call, a monkey has inflicted injury more than once. The injuries happen because the animals challenge their social hierarchy just as they would in the wild.

One of the PRC's missions is to educate people so they won't enter into relationships that are going to end badly.

-- Melissa D. Boyd

THE DAILY OKLAHOMAN
December 08, 2000, Friday CITY EDITION

Pet monkey quarantined, stays at home
Ken Raymond, Staff Writer

Winston the monkey survived Monday's shenanigans, but now he faces house arrest.

The Capuchin monkey, who can usually be found at the office of an Oklahoma City public relations firm, became a source of conflict after he bit a boy during a shopping trip to a northwest Oklahoma City Home Depot, said Dave Murdock, city animal control manager. Winston "was with a sitter or nanny, I guess they call it, and she took him with her to Home Depot," Murdock said. "Of course, kids see a monkey, and everybody wants to touch it."

The monkey latched onto the leg of a 13- or 14-year-old boy and began biting, Murdock said.

"His canines had been removed, so he punctured the skin, but it wasn't deep," he said.

The boy's mother took him to a hospital for treatment of the wound, and the hospital - as required by law - notified animal control. That was when the situation got wild.

Winston's owner, Mary Myrick, protested a search warrant that allowed city officials to take Winston into custody for confinement in an animal shelter. During the ensuing melee, an animal control officer was assaulted and a woman arrested, police said.

Myrick reached an agreement with animal control workers once Winston had been brought to the shelter, Murdock said.

"We originally brought him here, and then we agreed to let him go home with the possibility of spot checks," he said.

Winston will be kept in quarantine at home for 30 days. After that, he will be examined by a veterinarian. Unless signs of disease are present, the monkey will be given a clean bill of health and allowed to return to work.

Monkeying Around - Office melee erupts when police try to take away monkey

http://www.foxnews.com/etcetera/120800/monkey.sml

Friday, December 8, 2000

OKLAHOMA CITY - The monkey went peacefully. It was the humans who went ape.

Friends of a 9-pound Capuchin monkey got into a fur fight Monday when city animal control officers arrived at an office with a warrant to take 5-year-old Winston into custody.

Workers at Public Strategies, a public-relations firm, yelled, screamed and cried. One employee bumped an officer with her chest and pinned him against the transport truck, police said.

"You don't understand," Mary Myrick, who owns the firm and the monkey, told police. "This monkey had a nanny, for God's sake."

The problem began when Myrick took Winston with her to a Home Depot store last Saturday. Some people came up and asked to pet Winston, and did so without any trouble, Myrick said.

When the group was about to leave, Winston "nipped" a teenager on the back of the leg, she said. Myrick said the bite wasn't serious, although animal control officers said it broke the skin.

During Monday's altercation, officers told Myrick that Winston would not be harmed and that she could stay with him at the shelter until his release.

Winston was taken to the shelter and tested, police said. Test results and additional information about the victim were not available.

Time
December 4, 2000

Life Along the Chimps Elysees; The French loved the magots because they were cute. Then the apes grew up

BY: Bruce Crumley/Paris

For the past five years, thousands of endangered baby monkeys have been smuggled from North Africa into France for families dying to own the chic pet of the moment. But as the Barbary monkey, which the French call magot, grows, so do its fangs, claws and temper. As a result, some of these simians, like other fads, have been abandoned--tied to trees in the park, left there for nature to take her course. Nature, however, like fashion, can take unexpected turns. Now the French are worried that their latest bout of petty cruelty may have a bestial denouement.

"It's like the movie Gremlins," says Marie-Claude Bomsel, a veterinary expert at the Museum of Natural History in Paris. "These little creatures are adorable and docile while babies but become uncontrollable and violent in adulthood. Deprived of their natural socialization and incapable of adapting to human life, these monkeys become highly stressed, aggressive sociopaths that owners can't handle." The fear is that, left in parks and forests, the monkeys may turn on innocent humans taking walks in the woods. If that happens, ultimate fighting would pale in comparison. Says Bomsel: "These monkeys are very aggressive, and being stronger than humans, will inflict serious injury by biting and clawing." The damage may be especially excruciating for males of the human species. "Mature male magots consider men rivals, and will target sexual organs during attacks. That could be bad--very messy."

For some owners, the adult magots' capacity for violence has only enhanced their appeal. The monkey now rivals pit bulls and Rottweilers as a favorite accessory in French public-housing projects.

But most of the French are not amused, and are watching with alarm every fresh report of monkeys abandoned in public spaces. This month, police captured an escaped magot in a Paris-area park, less than a month after a pair of free-roaming magots were captured in a park in Lyons. Earlier, an adult magot was found in Paris' Bois de Vincennes tethered to a tree. News of the Paris finding sparked a flurry of calls to park officials reporting herds of magots roaming among treetops--sightings that have yet to be confirmed.

What worries authorities is that the French magot population may be as high as several hundred thousand. "This is an endangered species protected by international accords," says Serge Belais, president of France's Society for the Protection of Animals. "And neither North African or French customs officials seem too concerned." Baby magots can fetch up to $ 90 apiece in Africa--and sell for $ 1,200 in France. But they are susceptible to illness and often die in captivity. Their bites can transmit such diseases as TB and hepatitis. "People are risking their lives by adopting these creatures," says Belais, "and hastening the magot's disappearance from the planet."

Judge Anne Vosgien, president of a Paris-based animal-protection association, says it's time to get tough on the trade in all sorts of exotic pets. "We've got to crack down on people with animals that are known to be uncontrollable and dangerous. We don't care if it's a monkey, pit bull, cobra or hamster--we want tougher and better-enforced laws making pet owners responsible for their animals."

Though the humane society and police have removed scores of adult magots from traumatized households, French zoos and animal refuges have begun refusing requests to assume care of unwanted monkeys. Previously, such easy outs for owners, says Belais, only encouraged the traffic in baby magots. Zoos, meanwhile, do not want to expose their simian populations to belligerent and often diseased domestic magots. "This is a slow massacre that only customs authorities can stop," Belais laments.

Sadly, the high-profile monkey problem may only be growing. Large numbers of baby magots were purchased by trendy Parisians just before the adult magot problems made headlines. If the monkey population explodes as feared--and fad-fatigued owners abandon their charges in greater numbers--men who plan to visit France's parks may want to don protective gear before they wander too far into the woods.

LOOKING FOR IDEAL PET? MONKEY SEE; DON'T DO
Ann Landers
November 18, 2000

Dear Ann Landers: You have printed several letters about pet monkeys. I am sending you a brochure from the Simian Society of America in Jacksonville, Ill., that explains the difficulties in owning a monkey.

Here is some information from their brochure:

A monkey is a wild animal. Their infant friendliness fades as soon as they reach adulthood. They then become aggressive and can attack at the slightest provocation. Home-rearing an infant primate does not stop or alter this behavior.

You must watch your monkey every second. Even the smallest squirrel monkey can open a cupboard. Larger monkeys can open refrigerator doors, turn on faucets, rip through window screens, unlock outside doors, turn over chairs, tables and TVs. Toxic substances and medicines must be kept under lock and key.

Monkeys are highly excitable animals and will relieve themselves whenever and wherever they are upset. Though you may be somewhat successful diapering or toilet-training a young monkey, once the monkey reaches maturity, that training is forgotten or ignored.

If you are contemplating getting a monkey, you should contact the appropriate regulatory agencies (Fish and Game, Animal Control, Health Department) to learn of restrictions concerning these primates. Some cities and states prohibit keeping monkeys, while others require special permits.

Don't wait until you have acquired a monkey to find out it's against the law in your area.

Be aware that monkeys are expensive. They cannot live on peanuts and bananas alone. All primates require a well-balanced diet, including fresh vegetables, fruits, vitamins and live insects.

All monkeys bite. Punishment is usually taken as a threat and can result in serious consequences. Spaying or neutering your monkey will have little effect on curbing aggression. You must keep your primate away from strangers, as well as friends of your children, neighbors and relatives.

You should also invest in liability insurance and make sure you have some type of comprehensive health insurance for you and your family.

Monkeys need lots of space. Primates become depressed, even insane, if they don't get enough mental and physical stimulation. Tire swings, climbing ropes and toys must be replaced constantly as the monkey grows bored. The monkey's environment must be warm, dry and free from drafts.

They like to sunbathe for short periods of time, and must be provided with both indoor and outdoor caging with shade.

The average, well-tended captive primate lives for 20-40 years. Monkeys don't adapt well to new situations, such as the addition of a spouse or child.

What will happen to your monkey when you go away to college, get a job in another area or join the military? Keep in mind that your responsibility to your pet continues when you change your lifestyle.

I hope this information will make you think twice before seriously considering a monkey as a pet.

Joe in California

Windsor Star
November 17, 2000 Friday Final Edition

Don't monkey around with these pets; Primate Rescue Center says you'll regret having this animal in home

BY: Mitzi Perdue, Scripps Howard Service

Infant monkeys are adorable and in many ways like human babies. Still, if you ever have the urge to buy one for a pet, April Truitt has some important advice for you:

Don't.

Truitt is the founder of the Primate Rescue Center (PRC) and knows why buying a pet monkey would be a seriously bad idea. Before we get to her reasons, though, why would anyone want a pet monkey? The answer is that, in some circles, at least, a pet monkey is a status symbol. And people who long for children or who are going through empty-nest syndrome sometimes feel that a baby monkey could fill the gap.

The result is that hundreds of people in the United States pay anywhere from $3,000 US for a capuchin monkey to $40,000 for a female chimpanzee. It's legal to do it and you can find infant monkeys for sale on the Internet.

However, if you do buy one of these animals, it's just about guaranteed that you'll regret it. As Truitt says, "The media portrays them as substitute humans, but what you don't see is that these animals are capable of inflicting horrendous damage."

If you're not familiar with the innate drives of monkeys, it may surprise you to know that their capacity for doing "horrendous damage" is hard-wired into them. It's the result of the monkey's hierarchical nature.

When the monkey is an infant and dependent, it accepts a submissive role in the hierarchy. But as a monkey matures, it has an overwhelming instinct to wrest its way to the top of the social group. In a human family, the monkey is apt to challenge and dominate the children first, since they're the weakest. The monkey's next target is the wife and, finally, the husband.

Seriously injure 200-pound man

Even a capuchin monkey, one that will never weigh more than 20 pounds, can seriously injure a 200-pound man. "By the time a capuchin is five years old," says Truitt, "he has figured out that he has the power and the artillery to injure his human captor."

The power and artillery that Truitt is referring to are the animal's teeth and nails. To see how this works in practice, take the case of Boog, a 10-year-old spider monkey who now lives at the PRC.

His former owner, a woman, bought Boog as an infant, thinking he would be a darling pet. However, at age six, Boog decided one day that he didn't want to return to his cage. He went after the woman with his inch-long razor-sharp canines and weaponlike fingernails, plus his prehensile tail.

The woman suffered multiple severe gashes.

What Boog did was fairly typical. Generally by the time the PRC gets a call, a monkey has inflicted injury more than once. The injuries happen because the animals challenge their social hierarchy just as they would in the wild.

One of the PRC's missions is to try to educate people so they won't enter into a relationship with monkeys that's going to end badly for both. The PRC also:

* Provides a sanctuary or referral to appropriate facilities.

* Works to end the illegal trade in primates both in the United States and abroad.

* Educates the public about the plight of primates caught in the breeder/dealer cycle.

* Assists researchers and zoo personnel in finding appropriate placement for their surplus primates.

TULSA WORLD
November 6, 2000

Exotics - They're here (even in your neighbor's back yard), but do they belong?
Making pet sounds: for and against

TIM HOOVER

After playing with the frisky and cuddly feline for a just a few hours, Linda Griffis was sold.

The baby mountain lion was going to be her pet.

So the Verdigris woman bought the cub -- who weighed not much more than 30 pounds -- for $ 300 from a friend just before Valentine's Day.

"I was ready for some love and affection, and he was too," Griffis said. Two years later, Pouncer weighs more than 140 pounds and lives in a 24-by-30-foot wrought-iron pen in Griffis' back yard. He is declawed and is fed a special diet of cow bone, hide and flesh, along with pet vitamins that are crushed into his food several times a day.

"He was a lot different than what I expected," Griffis said. "I expected meanness, but he is so sweet."

Griffis is one of dozens of Oklahomans who own large cats or other exotic animals such as bears, monkeys, wolves, alligators and snakes as pets. Nationwide, in what seems to be a growing trend, there are thousands of owners who keep such normally wild animals in back yards and even in their homes.

At the same time, there are increasing concerns among animal rights organizations and wildlife officials about the ethics and humaneness of keeping such animals as pets.

And in light of highly publicized incidents that have resulted in death or serious injury to people -- especially where large cats are involved -- there also are worries about public safety.

"I wouldn't recommend any of these animals as pets," said Nicole Paquette, government affairs specialist with the Animal Protection Institute, a nonprofit organization that opposes the ownership of exotic animals as pets.

"They don't adjust well to a captive environment. People are misguided thinking they can take care of them."

Paquette points to several deaths involving exotic animals, including one in 1997 at an animal refuge near Oklahoma City in which a leopard killed a woman and then escaped from its cage. Oklahoma County sheriff's deputies shot the animal to death after a massive search involving multiple law enforcement agencies.

Beyond the dangers of biting and clawing from such animals, there are risks of disease, Paquette says.

As many as 90 percent of all reptiles carry salmonella bacteria, and there have been numerous examples of children contracting serious salmonella illnesses from contact with family pets, the Animal Protection Institute says.

Many monkeys carry the herpes B virus, among other diseases, and have been known to transmit it to humans through bites and secretion of bodily fluids.

Despite these risks, there is little regulation of the ownership of exotic animals.

The result, Paquette says, is that many exotic animals are owned by people with little or no knowledge of their diets, health needs or behavior. The animals become big and difficult to care for, and owners often give them to animal sanctuaries.

Sometimes, the animals are starved or forced to live in filthy conditions until authorities rescue them -- assuming that they survive.

Too often, the animals escape or get out of control and hurt humans, Paquette said.

Dr. Kristy Bradley, a veterinarian and epidemiologist with the Oklahoma Department of Health, agrees with the need for more regulation.

"In my opinion, it is not a well-regulated area," she said.

The Health Department investigates incidents in which people are attacked by exotic animals ranging from large cats to bears. The department has had to quarantine animals after attacks to determine whether they had rabies.

Bradley remembers one recent case in Osage County where a family was terrorized by a neighbor's pet monkey. The animal frequently escaped from its cage, urinated on playground equipment and bared its teeth at children, she said.

"These (exotic) animals are inherently wild, and their behavior is unpredictable," she said. "Although they may be calm with their owners, others are at risk."

Bradley favors higher license fees to own the animals, higher standards for their caging and care and mandatory education for would-be owners. She also says owners of exotic animals should be required to carry liability insurance.

"I think these things would be a deterrent to impulse ownership of these animals," she said, adding that such measures would redirect possession of exotic animals to only experienced and responsible owners.

In the meantime, more exotic animals are finding their ways into the back yards of ordinary people like Griffis. The Verdigris woman admits that she is careful around her mountain lion, but she says he's well-behaved.

Once, she said, she took Pouncer to the veterinarian and walked him on a harness into the waiting room where owners of dogs and cats were waiting their turns to see the doctor.

"He just walked right in and hopped up on a chair and sat down beside me and just purred," Griffis recalled, adding, "A few people backed up and had to leave."

Aside from the occasional visit to the vet, though, Pouncer never leaves his cage, she said.

"Basically, he doesn't want out," Griffis said. "Life's too good."

Tulsa World (Oklahoma)
September 29, 2000
Monkey is 'jailed' at shelter after run-in with child

A monkey was taken to the city animal shelter Thursday after injuring a child at a motel.

The monkey, whose name is Barney, either bit or scratched a 4-year-old girl's cheek at the Western Capri Motel, 5320 W. Skelly Drive, Tulsa County Sheriff's Capt. Tim Albin said.

The monkey's owner was staying in a room next to the one in which the girl was staying, but no more details about how the incident occurred were available.

Sheriff's officials became aware of the incident when the girl was taken to a Tulsa hospital for treatment of the injury.

Albin said Barney is in the city animal shelter awaiting examination by state Health Department officials, as is required in cases involving exotic animals.

Briefs - 09/25/00
This article appeared in the Maryville Times-Monday
September 25.
Maryville,TN.

Briefs
Monday, September 25, 2000
Girl bitten by Japanese monkey

Blount Memorial Hospital filed an animal control complaint at 5 p.m. Friday concerning a brown Macaque monkey, owned by Joe Helton, Rocky Branch Road, Walland.

According to a report filed with the Maryville Police Department, the monkey bit Brandi Hyde, Helton's step-daughter, leaving a small red mark on her right arm.

The owner said the monkey was current on all its shots.

Macaque monkies, native to Japan, can weigh from eight to 35 pounds depending on gender and species. They are also sometimes referred to as "snow monkies."

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
September 17, 2000 Sunday ZONED EDITION

Exotic animals ordinance in works; Dover Town Board asks its attorney to draft regulation after monkey attacks two people in Kansasville

LUKE KLINK Special to the Journal Sentinel

Dover -- The Dover Town Board asked its attorney last week to draft an ordinance regulating the keeping of exotic animals.

The move comes after an incident last month when a Japanese macaque monkey named Ronnie broke through the rotted wall of a downtown Kansasville home and attacked a neighbor and postal carrier. The attack victims were treated at a hospital for bite wounds. The monkey, a pet owned by Jacquelyn Thacker for the last eight years, was put to death.

Dover Supervisor Theodore Dremel said the attorney, Peter Ludwig, will draft the ordinance, which will be patterned after similar ordinances in neighboring communities.

Dremel said the board did not want to prevent town residents from keeping more docile exotic animals.

"There are so many exceptions that have to be filtered out on what exotic animals should be included and which should not," he said.

Some town residents keep llamas, kangaroos and an African breed of cattle, Dremel said.

The exotic animal ordinance could be ready for discussion by the Oct. 9 Town Board meeting.

Wildlife News -- August 28, 2000, Vol. 48 No. 36
Pet Monkeys Can't Be Taken To Public Places
The Arizona Game and Fish Department wants to remind owners of non-human primates, such as monkeys, that the law has changed and they cannot take their primate pets into public places.
"Non-human primates can carry a lot of different diseases, many of which can be readily transmitted to humans. Some of these diseases are extremely serious," said Research Branch Chief Jim deVos.
DeVos said the Game and Fish Commission Rule regarding non-human primates allows those who already have such animals to keep them, but they are prohibited from taking the animals into public places. However, they are allowed to take the animals to veterinarians for treatment.
Game and Fish officials had originally considered a ban on private individuals owning primates. The department examined the issue in depth, and even conducted focus groups. "We arrived at a more moderate approach, which was adopted by the Game and Fish Commission last December. The whole idea is to protect the public, yet allow those who already own such animals to keep them," deVos said.
The Associated Press State & Local Wire
August 14, 2000, Monday, BC cycle

Pet chimp gets loose, bites neighbors, damages property

The same chimpanzee that two years ago wrecked a U.S. Postal Service truck has struck again.

Herbie got loose after a sitter opened the wrong door of his cage and was on the run for more than three hours Saturday. Herbie stayed near his home while most neighbors stayed inside out of fear, said Raleigh County Sheriff's Deputy M.A. McCray.

Police told residents to keep their lights off. "If he saw a light on, he would apparently go to the house and want to go in," McCray said.

The chimp jumped on one vehicle and tore screens out of one resident's home, the deputy said.

While loose Herbie bit Ronald McClung, 18, in the palm of his hand.

Herbie also bit Mike Cochran, a neighbor who had tried to restrain the 5-foot, 150-pound creature.

Even though Cochran had played with Herbie before, "It jumped on him, knocked him down and bit his finger. He had some injuries to his side, too," McCray said.

Herbie's roommate, Sonny, never made it out of the large cage they share in the home of Fred Wriston, who has owned Herbie for 13 years.

A Beckley police officer obtained a tranquilizer from a veterinarian and a Wriston family member got close enough to inject it. Herbie went to sleep and was carried home.

In June 1998, Herbie tried to take the driver's seat of a postal truck. After escaping from his cage, Herbie ran Arthur Warden of Beckley out of the truck, causing the truck to slam into a parked vehicle. The chimp, who jumped from the truck before the accident, started after Warden, getting into a grab-each-other match until Wriston restrained his pet.

Wriston said at the time he believed Herbie tried to take the mail truck because he was once featured in a commercial, driving.

Herbie cooks, cleans, mops and hammers, and relatives say he's just as intelligent as a human.

Owner Kills Infamous Biting Monkey
8/8/00
SAN ANGELO, TX

Ted E. Bear, a monkey that drew national attention after biting a San Angelo man's neck in January 1998, was recently shot and killed after biting one of his owners.

An Animal Shelter official indicated the Capuchin monkey's body was brought to the shelter Friday and his head was shipped to a laboratory in Austin, where his brain will undergo rabies testing.

Officials should know test results within the next few days.

Ted E. Bear lived with Russell and Judy Woods in Carlsbad, and neither would comment Monday.

It was unclear which of the Woodses was attacked last week, but a bite report at the Animal Shelter said the monkey "went crazy" and bit his owner, who in turn shot the monkey seven or eight times.

The report also indicated the individual sought medical attention for the bites before taking the monkey's body to the animal shelter.

The monkey made national headlines two years ago after a biting incident resulted in a debate over whether city officials should execute him so his brain could be tested for rabies.

State District Judge Barbara Walther issued an injunction preventing the monkey's death, and Eric Hernandez, the 19-year-old bite victim, agreed to take rabies prevention shots.

In the meantime, Judy Woods appeared on NBC's "Leeza" show in a program themed "Headline Grabbing Animals."

But city law doesn't allow exotic animals - such as monkeys - within the city limits, and a city marshal escorted the monkey to San Angelo's city limits about a month after the bite incident.

The Woodses sold their San Angelo home and moved beyond the city limits in order to keep Ted E. Bear. Judy Woods - who suffered a neck injury years ago - originally got the monkey to assist her with tasks like opening bottles and turning on faucets.

The Miami Herald
August 5, 2000 Saturday BROWARD EDITION

MONKEY BITE VICTIM HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL

A 15-year-old girl who was attacked by a monkey was released from the hospital Friday.

Dorothy Colosimo, of Davie, and friend Candace Garwood, 19, were standing outside Garwood's home at 17221 SW 65th Ct., in Southwest Ranches, when Garwood's mother's pet monkey, Mikey, attacked them, fire rescue officials said. Colosimo was bitten on her arm, back and left ear.

The girls ran to a car for safety where they called 911.

When neighbors came out, the monkey ran back to the house.

Garwood, who had bites to her arms and face, refused to go to the hospital. Colosimo was treated at Memorial Hospital West in Pembroke Pines for several bites. She was released Friday.

Garwood did not want to talk about the incident Friday but a friend who answered her phone said she was in a lot of pain but doing well.

Residents are allowed to have monkeys as pets but they must have a state permit from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Monkey attacks man, letter carrier
Charges not likely for macaque's owner, Racine official says

By Dave Cole
Special to the Journal Sentinel, Last Updated: Aug. 5, 2000

Town of Dover - A woman whose pet monkey got loose and then attacked and bit a neighbor and a letter carrier probably won't face charges, a Racine County Sheriff's Department spokesman said Wednesday.

And Jacquelyn Thacker, 45, won't have to worry about being sued by at least one of the victims, even though the man had to run for his life.

"She's a good, hard worker, and I feel sorry for her," George Mutter, 73, said Wednesday of the monkey's owner. "She apologized that the thing got away."

The monkey's rampage began Tuesday morning when it broke through some rotten boards on Thacker's rented property in the community of Kansasville and escaped, according to sheriff's Lt. Jim Scherff.

Mutter was in the backyard of his home when the monkey, a Japanese macaque named Ronnie, suddenly appeared. And he was anything but playful.

"The thing came over the top of my car and off the hood," Mutter said. "It grabbed me around the waist, and I struggled to get away from it. It slid down my waist and started biting me."

Mutter said he suffered four bite wounds to his left leg before escaping by running into his home.

Moments later, the monkey attacked a U.S. Postal Service employee delivering mail from her truck, Scherff said.

The monkey reached up and bit Renee DeGroot's hand, Scherff said.

DeGroot then drove across the street to get help, Scherff said. But things went from bad to worse when the animal attacked again, and this time leaped into the truck, he said.

DeGroot was able to get the monkey out of the truck and the animal ran off, Scherff said.

With the help of Thacker, Ronnie eventually was captured, and with her consent he was euthanized, Scherff said. Thacker had the monkey as a pet for eight years, he said.

Both victims now face the possibility of having been infected by a virus macaque monkeys have been known to carry, according to Jan Rafert, curator of the primate and small mammals exhibit at the Milwaukee County Zoo. The disease can be fatal if left untreated, Rafert said.

Rafert, consulted by the hospitals that treated the victims Tuesday for their wounds, said pending test results should determine whether DeGroot and Mutter need treatment.

Normally, macaque monkeys aren't aggressive, Rafert said. In this case, the nimal probably attacked after becoming frightened by his new surroundings, he said.

A lover of exotic animals, Thacker also has a half-breed wolf penned in her backyard, Scherff said. There are no state or local laws against the possession of such animals, he said.

And a town ordinance against allowing animals to run loose probably would not apply in this situation, Scherff said.

Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
August 4, 2000, Friday, Broward Metro EDITION

PET MONKEY ATTACKS SOUTHWEST RANCHES TEENS

SHANNON O'BOYE ; Staff Writer

Monkeys may be cute, but sometimes they can be nasty.

Just ask Candice Garwood, 19, and Dorothy Colosimo, 15, who had a hairy encounter Thursday night with a 4-foot furry monkey who jumped into the teenagers' car and left them bloodied and bruised.

The girls were leaving Garwood's Southwest Ranches home about 7:30 p.m. when the monkey followed them out of the house, hopped into the car and got violent, fire officials said. Garwood's mother, Barbara, who is out of town on vacation, keeps the Sumerian monkey as a pet.

The monkey bit and scratched the girls in the face and arms before they could shoo it out of the car. The girls rolled up the windows, locked the doors and sat in the car in the driveway for more than an hour, afraid the animal would attack if they ventured out.

"The monkey was banging on the windows and roof, tormenting them," said Broward County Fire-Rescue spokesman Todd LeDuc.

Finally, Colosimo called her mother, who called 911.

When Broward firefighters arrived, they found the tall, thin monkey on the car's hood.

"We were chirping the siren and the air horn and flashing our lights," said Capt. John Frailey. "We thought we'd scare it and it would run away, but it just looked at us."

The firefighters stayed 50 feet away from the beast until a neighbor, who was friendly with the monkey, came over with gloves and approached the car. Upon seeing the man, the monkey dashed into the house. When firefighters left, Broward sheriff's deputies were trying to get the animal back into its cage.

Colosimo, of Davie, was transported to Memorial Regional Hospital West. She was "bitten all over" and needed stitches, Frailey said. Garwood, who had scratches on her forehead and arm, planned to drive herself to the hospital.

Garwood told authorities that the pet is up-to-date on its shots. She knows because the monkey attacked her mother six months ago.

Shannon O'Boye can be reached at soboye@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4597.

Monkey in the Doghouse
By David Snyder, Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday , July 20, 2000

In the photograph on Steven and Kimberly Ritterspach's kitchen counter, Jamie looks like a perfect angel. He is reclining, almost asleep, his face blissfully calm.

This is the way the Ritterspachs remember their 2-year-old Bonnet macaque, as a loving and loved member of their family. A monkey, yes. But a monkey who ate at the family table, took showers and grabbed his own food from the refrigerator.

A son, almost.

The police reports and the quarter-inch-thick file at the Anne Arundel County Animal Control Division recall a somewhat different monkey. Seven bite reports in 18 months. A knock-down, drag-out fight at a local bar.

Impoundment.

For the past 15 months, Jamie has lived at a wildlife and primate sanctuary in Woodstock in Howard County. And for the past 15 months, the Glen Burnie couple has fought to get Jamie back. The Ritterspachs have spent more than $20,000 in lawyers' fees to challenge the county's confiscation of their pet.

"It's like having a kid ripped from your arms," said Steven Ritterspach, 46, a used-car wholesaler. He breaks into tears from time to time talking about his monkey. "Jamie and I have a special bond. He was like a kid when you'd come in in the afternoon. It was about 30 minutes of hard playtime with Dad and Jamie."

Jamie's saga, which has involved a half-dozen county and state agencies, has become a cause celebre in the small but tight-knit world of monkey enthusiasts. His impoundment and the dramatic brawl that preceded it have sparked ongoing discussions on monkeymaddness.com, a Web site for monkey-lovers.

The Anne Arundel County Board of Appeals ruled in November that animal control officials were within their rights in seizing Jamie and turning him over to the sanctuary. The Ritterspachs have not decided whether to sue the county.

But Jamie's epic continues July 27, when the Howard County Planning Board is scheduled to review a zoning-variance application by Frisky's Wildlife and Primate Sanctuary, Jamie's new home. If the county denies the variance, the sanctuary could be ordered to shut down or change its operations.

While the Ritterspachs say they don't expect the hearing to bring Jamie back to them, Steven Ritterspach says he will be there to testify about what he believes are wrongdoings by Colleen Layton, the sanctuary's owner.

The hearing came about after an anonymous caller reported that Layton was violating county zoning by having too many animals. Layton, who has run the sanctuary for 30 years, maintains that the Ritterspachs have misplaced their frustrations about losing Jamie.

"I didn't ask for the monkey, and I'm not asking to keep him," Layton said.

Anne Arundel animal control officials put Jamie at Layton's sanctuary after his impoundment in April 1999, said Tahira S. Thomas, the agency's administrator. Steven Ritterspach's voice began to crack as he recounted what happened.

"This has just brought everything in our lives to a complete stop," he said as he stood in the kitchen of his two-story home, flipping through the dozens of snapshots he and his wife took of Jamie. "Life was good, I was rolling along, getting things done. Now, I just can't find the energy anymore."

The Ritterspachs lost two children shortly after birth, he said. All were three months premature.

The couple bought Jamie from a monkey broker for $4,000, and he and his wife still own three monkeys.

"A primate definitely is never going to replace a child," he said. "But it filled a void."

Jamie was first reported to the authorities July 14, 1997, records show, for biting a 6-year-old girl at a local carnival. He struck again in April, 1998, biting a 12-year-old girl. Animal control warned the Ritterspachs that if Jamie bit again, they would confine the monkey to the Ritterspach home.

Five months later, Jamie bit a 23-year-old woman. The Ritterspachs were ordered to keep Jamie at home, or on a leash if he left the house, county records show.

Two months later, Jamie scratched a 36-year-old woman, and the county confined Jamie to his owners' house.

That following April, the Ritterspachs decided to take Jamie out for a night on the town. They dressed him in a blue jumpsuit, Ritterspach recalled, and had him on a leash.

Shortly after midnight, the Ritterspachs stopped at the Speak Easy bar to have a few drinks. A woman came over to the couple where they were sitting in a back room and reached out to touch the monkey. Then, Ritterspach said, "all hell broke loose."

By the time the police arrived, several people were brawling at the bar, and Jamie was skittering and chattering, threatening to bite anyone who approached him, according to the police report.

The police asked Ritterspach to give the monkey to his wife, and, according to police reports, he refused. They hit Ritterspach with a blast of pepper spray, according to the incident report from that night. By the time the evening concluded, Jamie had bitten three people and Steven Ritterspach was charged with three counts of second-degree assault, one count of reckless endangerment and one count of resisting arrest.

He was later found not guilty on all counts except reckless endangerment, for which he was fined $1,055, court records show.

Since then, Jamie has lived in one of Colleen Layton's dozen monkey cages. He stays in the "macaque compound" on Layton's three-acre spread, just across from the turkeys that were found wandering the streets of Howard County a few months back. The primates have cable television in the cages--"Animal Court" is a favorite, Layton said.

Bright yellow signs bearing warnings about the dangers of monkeys blare out from every cage.

"Monkeys are very emotional," explained Layton, 48, who refers to primates' volatility as "PMS"--primate mood swings. "Much more so than your dog or cat. They can turn on a moment's notice."

Layton started her sanctuary about 30 years ago with a shoebox full of baby rabbits. She now has about 40 different animals in her "permanent collection"--the animals that will spend the rest of their lives at Frisky's--and dozens of other transient animals there for treatment and then release into the wild.

It's a 24-hour job, Layton said, but she loves it. "People always tell me they're jealous that I have all these animals," she said. "And I always tell them, 'No, they have me.' "

What would she do if the county closed her down?

"There are all these animals that have all these needs," she said. "It would destroy their lives, and it would destroy mine."

http://www.salisburypost.com/2000july/071600b.htm

Monkeys 'make terrible pets'
July 16, 2000
BY EMILY FORD
SALISBURY POST

Almost every day, someone calls Lorraine Smith at the N.C. Zoological Park looking for a pet monkey.

She listens, then tells them about her other phone calls.

The ones from people trying to get rid of a pet monkey that, once cute and cuddly, now bites and scratches them and their children.

"People get the idea that bottle-raising a monkey would be fun," said Smith, the curator of mammals at the zoo in Asheboro.

But they make terrible pets, she said.

"Monkeys are dangerous and unpredictable and, at some point, they will bite," said Richard Farinato, captive wildlife protection director for the Humane Society of the Unites States.

"Then, they will be bounced around from owner to owner until they end up rotting in a cage in someone's basement or at an exotic animal auction," Farinato said. "That's not the life you want for any animal."

Monkeys are bound to bite because that's how they discipline their young, Smith said.

"Monkeys deal with each other by biting, and they would deal with us that way. And we can't teach them otherwise," Smith said. "They are not children."

A monkey bite will hurt, could cause a bacterial infection and might even kill you, experts said.

Monkeys can carry deadly viruses and pass them on to people.

"With Old World monkeys, especially macaques, we're talking about herpes B, simian HIV and hepatitis," Farinato said.

Monkeys available on the Internet and through the pet trade could be more prone to violent behavior because people take them away from their mothers at such a young age, experts said.

"Hand-raised animals don't get the psychological development they need," Farinato said. "They have nothing to base their behavior on."

As monkeys mature, they become even more unpredictable, said Dr. Stephanie Ostrowski, a veterinarian epidemiologist for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. And reintroducing them into a colony rarely works, she said.

"So you sacrifice the longterm good of the animals for a short-term commercial gain," Ostrowski said. "You traded two or three years of direct contact for 30 years in solitary confinement."

At the Charlotte Metro Zoo near Rockwell, owners plan to raise an infant monkey in their home and let people pose with it for $5.

"It sends the wrong message that monkeys are little tiny kids in furry coats," Farinato said. "While they'll claim that it's educational and helps people understand monkeys, all it will do is encourage other people to want baby monkeys."

Zoo owner Steve Macaluso disagrees.

"We educate every person that comes into the zoo that these are not pets, that you don't want to own one," he said.

Macaluso raised his first monkey 10 years ago. Scooter, a macaque, lives at Charlotte Metro Zoo and still lets Macaluso handle him, he said.

"I tell people it's like having a 2-year-old child who will never grow up," he said.

Despite what he says, Macaluso's actions encourage people to buy monkeys, Ostrowski said.

"If he truly believes that, he should not be setting that example," she said.

Raising an infant monkey is stressful and dangerous, Farinato said.

"And taking the baby has a horrendous impact on the mother," he said.

Farinato watched a mother monkey try to nurse her dead baby for three days before finally putting it down, he said. Mothers who lose a newborn to the pet trade go through a similar mourning process, he said.

"You want to see a heartbreaking scene ..." he said.

It's easy for untrained pet owners to misinterpret a wild animal's behavior, Ostrowski said.

When chimpanzees on TV or in the movies smile, they are actually frightened, she said.

"We see that big, toothy smile and say, 'How cute and funny,' " Ostrowski said. "People who are really tuned into behavior say it tears at their heart every time they see it.

"That's a fear grimace. That baby chimp is saying, 'I'm scared. Please don't hurt me.' "

In many primate species, a smile is a threat, Smith said.

"If we smile at them, they could respond by biting," she said.

Counties across the state are regulating or even banning exotic animals. The Rowan County Board of Health will consider an ordinance in August that calls for registering but not banning exotic animals.

"People feel their rights are being violated because they can't own animals, while neighbors feel their rights are violated because there's a lion in their backyard," Smith said. "We need to address this on the state level, but I don't see that happening."

When people call Smith looking for a home for their pet monkeys, she has to turn them away.

"We can't take them. There is no room at the inn," she said.

Instead, she directs them to an accredited sanctuary. But many refuges are already bursting with unwanted wild animals, she said.

The best solution is not to give in, Ostrowski said.

"Everyone thinks they want a baby wild animal, whether it's a monkey or a squirrel or a tiger," she said. "I think we have to move past that little impulse and do what's right for the animals and the environment and, in the long term, what's right for ourselves."
http://www.wtopnews.com/mainstory4.shtm
Monkey on the Run in Columbia
June 1, 2000

(Columbia, Md.-AP) -- Police searched in vain all day Wednesday for an escaped monkey that chased and bit a Columbia woman.

Officers from the Howard County Animal Control division scoured the area near the home where Debra Frederick was attacked by a 2 -foot-tall spider monkey.

The monkey approached Frederick, 38, Wednesday morning as she stepped outside her sister's home to give it a piece of bread. It snatched the bread from her hand and then bit her on the thigh as she ran away.

"It scared me to death. This is Columbia - this isn't the jungle," she said before she went to the hospital to have the superficial wound checked by a doctor.

Police set traps with grapes and bananas around the neighborhood, urged children to stay off the bike paths and asked residents to call a hot line if they spotted the monkey.

Chicago Sun Times
It's a jungle out there
February 25, 2000
BY CATE PLYS

We have a monkey in the neighborhood. It was interesting at first to see its owner "walking" it down the street, on a leash long enough for the monkey to scamper a good 10 feet up the trees. Of course, that was before it tried taking out my 2-year-old daughter.

So I was disappointed to hear that a bill to ban pet monkeys in Illinois, sponsored by state Rep. Anne Zickus (R-Palos Hills), was voted down last week by the House Agriculture and Conservation Committee. Who can't understand that pet monkeys are a public health threat? Monkey owners and dealers, that's who. And that's who the committee decided to listen to at a hearing, rather than experts from the Cook County Department of Health, the Cook County Department of Animal and Rabies Control and Brookfield Zoo, plus written support from the Humane Society of the United States. Not one committee member voted yes.

"The members are rural members, and it's probably not an issue," Zickus explained. "And the pet owners and in particular the ones who sell [monkeys] had 30 or 40 people down here at the hearing."

About 90 percent of macaque monkeys, the most popular type, carry Herpes B virus, according to veterinary epidemiologist Stephanie Ostrowski of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Herpes B is harmless to monkeys but fatal in humans at least 50 percent of the time. It's spread by any bodily fluid contact. Monkeys also can catch and spread most human diseases, such as tuberculosis and HIV.

"They all bite," said Ostrowski. "They bite without warning, and they have very big teeth." She recalled a recent incident in Albany, N.Y., in which a SWAT team in body armor had to subdue a 7-pound Capuchin monkey that had driven its owners out of their home. Pet monkeys already are illegal in California, Colorado, Georgia and New Jersey, she said.

Mark Matuck, communicable disease program coordinator at the Cook County Health Department, told the House committee all about monkey diseases. He also told them about last week's monkey attack in Lansing, where a pet named Zip turned his owner into a human pincushion. "It didn't seem to make much of an impact," Matuck told me. "One of the questions to me from the representatives was, `Has anybody died?' That isn't the point."

"I don't think the committee heard many points from anybody, really," said fellow witness Dr. Dan Parmer, administrator of the Cook County Department of Animal and Rabies Control. "They weren't really interested in hearing. The thing was, the primate people came en masse."

No doubt monkey owners think it's their business if their pets maul them. Unfortunately, owners invariably take monkeys outside and endanger everyone else. A few months ago, said Matuck, someone was wheeling a young macaque around Northbrook Mall in a baby carriage. Monkeys also escape. Remember, we're talking about animals with fingers and opposable thumbs. In Pittsburgh two years ago, a monkey picked the lock on its cage and toured the neighborhood.

In my case, we brought our daughter outside and found the monkey up a tree in our front yard. All the kids from the block were gathered, staring up in wonder. Our daughter looked up too, until the monkey hurtled straight at her. In that split second, my husband threw himself between them. The monkey knocked the wind out of him. The monkey's owner scooped it up and hurried off. No apologies.

Two years later, the monkey bit a neighborhood friend of mine who was seven months pregnant, then ran off. The owner came back with it later--not to apologize, but to ask her to make up with the monkey, who was upset. Last year, another friend was walking down the street when the unleashed monkey dropped out of a tree onto her head.

If only those committee members would walk around my neighborhood for a while, maybe the monkey would drop on their heads too--and knock some sense into them.

PET MONKEY ATTACK PUTS ITS OWNER IN HOSPITAL;
25-POUND ANIMAL NO `MONSTER,' WOMAN SAYS

By Maria T. Galo, Chicago Tribune Staff Writer
20 February 2000

William Huscher will never forget the chaotic, bloody scene that greeted him when he returned home after picking up some Chinese take-out.

Huscher's wife, Cathy, 44, was lying on the floor of their Lansing home with paramedics tending to wounds inflicted by her pet Java monkey, Zip, who attacked her after being let out of his cage last Sunday night.

"There was blood everywhere, it was horrible," said Huscher, 42, on Friday. "I was so mad because of that monkey. All the family, they all hated him, and she would get mad at us because everyone hated him."

Cathy Huscher lost a pint and a half of blood in the attack, with 6-inch-deep bites and cuts on her head, arms and legs. She underwent three hours of surgery last Sunday at Community Hospital in Munster, Ind. On Friday, she was in stable condition, a nursing supervisor said.

Despite the attack, she still thinks affectionately of Zip and thinks he may have been neglected or abused by previous owners.

"Don't make him out to be a monster," she said from her hospital room. "He was my baby." Still, when the monkey leaped from the cage onto her head with a little scream, "I thought I was going to die," she said.

The monkey will be killed, William Huscher said, and his brain examined for rabies. Lansing police ticketed the Huschers for having a monkey without a license.

Cathy Huscher also faces about 12 weeks of therapy as doctors wait for the wounds to heal before trying any reconstructive surgery, her husband said. Her left arm was badly damaged when she tried to yank it out of the monkey's jaws, and the attack also left a fist-size hole behind her right knee.

The attack came just three days before an Illinois House panel defeated a bill to add primates to the list of pets banned under the Illinois Dangerous Animals Act.

William Huscher is convinced that monkeys are dangerous. "They belong in trees, they don't belong in people's homes," he said.

The Great Java monkey looks like a small baboon with fang-like incisors that are "the size of your pinkie, on top and bottom," Huscher said. Zip weighs about 25 pounds and stands 2 feet high.

The Huschers, who also own two miniature Doberman pinschers, got the 7-year-old monkey about a year ago from a friend. Zip bit Cathy Huscher on the hand the first day, her husband said. About five months later, the monkey attacked one of the dogs, and then, a few months ago, he jumped on Cathy Huscher and bit and scratched her on the head.

"But it was nothing major, just some little scratches and teeth marks," William Huscher said. But William Huscher said he did not like being home when the monkey was out of its cage.

Last Sunday, Cathy Huscher said she was going to let the monkey out to play. "I said, `then I'm leaving,' " her husband said, and drove off to pick up dinner. When he saw emergency vehicles in the driveway upon his return, "I knew right away, I knew what it was, it was the monkey," he said.

When People Play Host to Some Of Their Best Friends' Diseases
http://www.foxnews.com/science/021800/petdiseases.sml
7:00 a.m. ET (1100 GMT) February 18, 2000 By Amanda Onion

NEW YORK - Barbara Healy lives with six monkeys.

While charming to watch, macaques can leave a disease behind after a bite she says usually the pet macaques that live in her outdoor and indoor enclosures make wonderful companions. But monkeys are wild animals and, inevitably, their feral side occasionally surfaces.

One of Healy's monkeys, whom Healy suspects has a troubled past, sometimes reaches through his cage and scratches her. "He even pulled out a chunk of my hair once," she said.

Healy is one among a coalition of exotic animal owners nationwide who recently lobbied to knock down pending legislation in Illinois to ban certain exotic pets, including monkeys. The proposed bill was rejected in committee on Tuesday, but the battle continues between pet owners who say it's perfectly safe to keep exotic animals and health officials who cringe at the thought.

"We dread getting calls about monkey bites," said Connie Austin of the Illinois department of health. "Macaque monkeys very frequently transmit the Herpes B virus and this virus is 70 percent fatal in people."

A March 1998 report from the federal Centers for Disease Control states that the deadly Herpes B virus is 80 to 90 percent prevalent in adult macaque monkeys. If a monkey is infected, it may not exhibit symptoms, but it can easily transmit the disease to people by a bite or scratch.

Healy claims the CDC's figures are inaccurate and reflect only those populations of macaques that are kept in the closed quarters of scientific laboratories. The number of monkeys who infect their owners is difficult to assess, says Austin, because people are reluctant to report a problem in fear that their monkeys will be taken away.

Dogs are mostly harmless but can carry worms or other parasites

Whatever the true numbers, the risk of contracting life-threatening diseases exists - and not just among owners of exotic pets. Every year health agencies across the country document cases of pets attacking their owners or inadvertently infecting them with diseases that prove grave or even fatal. About two-thirds of Americans own pets and every year about four million of them contract diseases from their animals.

"There are very important psychological and social benefits of owning a pet," said Fred Angulo, an epidemiologist at the CDC. "But those benefits sometimes need to be balanced against adverse health effects."

While many health officials believe keeping a macaque is a bad idea ("Macaques are never appropriate pets, period," says Mira Leslie of the Arizona Department of Health Services) they simply encourage increased vigilance when it comes to avoiding infection from less exotic pets.

Angulo points out, for example, that many don't realize that reptiles are very common carriers of salmonella. Salmonella is a bacteria that can be spread from the feces of an animal to a person through ingestion. It can lead to serious infections, particularly among children and immunocompromised people.

"What's different about reptiles is they live in pens and crawl through their feces," said Angulo. "So if you touch the head of a reptile, you could easily also be touching their feces."

Iguanas and other reptiles can leave a trail of bacteria in their wake

A simple solution, Angulo says, is to wash your hands after handling a reptile pet. But as more and more people take in snakes, iguanas and turtles as pets (the CDC estimates 3 percent of U.S. households now have reptilian pets), there has also been a noted increase in salmonella infections from the animals.

The increase was enough to urge the CDC to publish a November 1999 report advising people to keep reptiles out of homes with children under five or immunocompromised people.

Even if a child is kept away from the pet, the bacteria can still be spread indirectly. Angulo has heard reports of people washing their reptiles' cages in the kitchen sink or letting their animals walk around the kitchen. These practices lead to contaminating surfaces where food is prepared.

Another commonly feared animal-borne disease is toxoplasmosis. This condition is spread from cat feces and can cause birth defects or miscarriage if a pregnant woman is infected. Again, basic caution can avoid the problem. "Just let the men take care of the litter box," advises Evret Newman, a veterinarian at the Zoonosis Control Program of the Texas Department of Health.

In fact, the list of pets that can potentially carry diseases is practically all-inclusive. Rabbits may actually pose more of a risk to pregnant women since they can spread listeriosis, salmonella or, in some rare cases, the bubonic plague.

Duckling droppings can carry salmonella

Puppies and kittens can spread heartworm or ringworm if they're not properly inoculated. Chicks and ducklings, apparently a common gift to children at Easter, can transmit salmonella through their droppings. This month a 72-year-old Massachusetts woman with a kidney problem died after contracting meningitis from the droppings of her cockatoo.

Catching diseases from animals is hardly a new problem. In Medieval Europe plagues were often spread by rats and fleas. Fleas would feast on the rats' blood and then jump to a human host and spread any pathogens the rats were carrying to people. Last summer, New York City saw an outbreak of West Nile fever, when the virus had taken a similar path from birds to mosquitoes to people.

Since pets play an integral role in so many people's lives, few health officials are advising people to get rid of their pets altogether. Instead they recommend caution and good sense when handling animals.

But exotic pets may be another matter. Newman of the Texas health department argues we know too little about exotic animals such as sugar gliders (a tiny opossum) and geckos to understand what viruses or bacteria they may carry. And he says the possibility of catching a harmful virus from primate pets is only greater.

"Primates are so close on the genetic scale to us that almost all of the pathogens they carry will be transferable to people," he said. Newman and many other veterinarians and animal rights activists further argue that keeping an exotic animal like a monkey is cruel and unfair to the animal, itself. "Personally I don't know why anyone would want one," Newman said.

Healy says she has wanted a pet monkey ever since she was a child when she spent her afternoons watching the apes and monkeys at a nearby zoo in Atlanta. And she claims she offers a comfortable home to monkeys that would otherwise be spending their time in laboratory cages.

She also adds that the factor that worries health officials about disease transmission - our common ancestry with primates - is the same reason she feels unusually close to her six monkeys.

"Most of the people who have primates don't consider them pets - they're like the child who never grows up," she said. "There is an immediate bond."

Chicago Tribune
February 15, 2000 Tuesday, CHICAGO SPORTS FINAL EDITION
SERIOUS MONKEY BUSINESS IS BREWING;
LEGISLATOR SEEKS BAN ON ANIMALS AS PETS

BY: By Bradley Keoun, Tribune Staff Writer.

Cheetah the squirrel monkey likes to sit atop her cage, sucking her thumb and watching TV. Sometimes she sits at a desk and pecks the computer keyboard.

She also likes to push Fisher-Price blocks through correspondingly shaped square, circular and triangular openings in the lid of a plastic tub.

"She's like one of my kids," said Des Plaines Ald. Tom Becker, stroking the 6-pound monkey's peach-colored face through an opening in the cage.

But Becker's attachment to his pet is threatened by a bill, expected to be debated Tuesday in Springfield, that would add "non-human primates" to the categories of pets banned under the Illinois Dangerous Animals Act. Banned animals include hyenas and dangerous cats such as lions.

Violators could be charged with a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a $500 fine and up to 30 days in jail. More importantly for owners like Becker, they could be forced to give up their monkeys to zoos or pounds.

State Rep. Anne Zickus (R-Palos Hills) said she proposed the measure, which is supported by animal and health officials, because monkeys are difficult to manage and can suffer mentally and physically if they don't get proper care. What's more, the animals can transmit such diseases as herpes, tuberculosis and hepatitis.

"They have special needs--it's not like a domesticated dog or cat," said Zickus, who first learned about the dangers of pet monkeys after speaking with Brookfield Zoo officials during a legislative luncheon in July.

"The monkey-with-the-organ-grinder days are over," said Dan Parmer, administrator of the Cook County Department of Animal Control. "These animals are supposed to be in zoos."

Zoos, circuses and research labs must get a permit from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to keep monkeys. But there are no licensing or vaccination requirements for monkeys kept as pets in Illinois.

Other states, including New Jersey, California and Georgia, have enacted either an outright ban on pet monkeys or imposed stringent requirements that all but rule out private ownership.

In Florida, inspectors cannot grant permits to monkey owners until they have inspected the home environment and size of the cage the pet will inhabit.

Zickus said she has no idea how many pet monkeys there are in Illinois. But some monkey owners estimate there are hundreds.

Under her proposal, monkey owners would be forced to turn over their pets to wildlife sanctuaries, animal pounds and zoos. But there is no guarantee the sanctuaries and zoos would accept them.

Dennis Pate, Lincoln Park Zoo curator, said zoos rarely take pet monkeys because their pedigrees are unknown and their species usually aren't a part of captive breeding programs. Also, he said, they don't get along well with other zoo animals.

Zickus said she might be willing to allow current monkey owners to keep their pets.

Pet primates have been a feature of popular culture for years: Disney's Aladdin had his Abu; the Wonder Twins of Saturday-morning cartoon fame had Gleek; and Clint Eastwood teamed with a beer-swilling orangutan, Clyde, in "Every Which Way But Loose."

Yet tales of good pet monkeys gone bad abound. In 1995, a 31-year-old Elgin driver was injured after a pet monkey escaped from its cage and jumped on her back, forcing her to lose control of the car. The year before, a pet monkey in Florida jumped out of a woman's purse and bit the ear of a man dining in an Italian restaurant.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, which tracks infectious diseases, doesn't have an official count of the number of times humans have contracted illnesses from monkeys.

But health officials point to a 1997 tragedy in which a 22-year-old worker at a Georgia primate research center died after contracting a herpes virus from a rhesus monkey. Veterinarians say other monkey-borne diseases could be similarly lethal.

"Since they're so closely related to humans, there's a lot of disease transmission, and it goes both ways," said Jackie Zdziarski, an associate veterinarian with Brookfield Zoo.

Phil Snyder, who directs the six-state regional office of the Humane Society of the United States, which includes Illinois, said as a field officer in Elkhart, Ind., in 1975 he confiscated a baboon that its owners had gotten drunk at a party.

"Whoever ends up with them does not know the needs of these animals, does not know what's needed in terms of the surroundings, in terms of housing," he said. "It's not like having a dog in the back yard."

Supporters of pet monkeys say such claims are exaggerated.

Camille Dorian, editor of California-based Monkey Matters magazine, said most problems come from rhesus monkeys, many of which are sold to the public by breeders and research laboratories that have finished with them. Because of the way lab monkeys are raised, they are more likely to carry certain diseases.

"I don't want you to take away my 2 1/2-pound squirrel monkey because your 30-pound macaque has a herpes B virus," she said.

Matthew and Kathy Anderson of Des Plaines keep six monkeys--three squirrel monkeys and three capuchins--in two spare bedrooms of their house. They acknowledge the monkeys are difficult to manage: They can't take vacations because they have found no one who can take care of their pets, even for a few days. They both have scars from scratches they have suffered since buying their first monkey from a dealer in Missouri in 1989.

Even so, Matthew Anderson said, they would oppose a bill outlawing their pets: "These animals become attached to you. It would be a pretty cold person who could have a pet for 10 years and be able to give them away."

Becker said he called his state representative about the bill, scheduled to go before the House Agriculture and Conservation Committee on Tuesday afternoon. He also has not ruled out going to Springfield.

"She's never actually been around (other) monkeys," he said. "She doesn't think she's a monkey. She's one of the family."

THE PANTAGRAPH (Bloomington, IL.)
February 8, 2000, Tuesday

Zookeeper agrees law should ban pet primates

BY: Associated Press with Pantagraph reports

SPRINGFIELD - Primates would be added to the list of restricted animals in the state's Dangerous Animals Act, under a bill sponsored by State Rep. Anne Zickus, R-Palos Hills. A local animal expert doesn't disagree with the idea.

Animals on the list, such as an exotic cat or poisonous snake, are considered dangerous and can live only in zoos, research labs and other controlled environments. John Tobias, director of Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington, said smaller primates may not be as dangerous as the larger ones, but "in general, it is not a good idea to keep exotic animals as pets."

People mistakenly believe some animals, such as chimpanzees, are friendly and harmless. But an adult male chimpanzee can be bigger than a human and can kill a person. Other larger primates can "do some serious damage," Tobias said.

"I advocate no primates as pet animals," he said.

Many people bring home an exotic animal or primate as a pet and do not know how to take care of it, so they call a zoo to take it in. But if the zoo has no need for that type of animal, Tobias said, then it cannot take it. "Zoos have limited spaces," he said.

Many primates and exotic animals are social animals. If they are raised at home, it can be difficult to introduce the group atmosphere of a zoo.

On the other hand, Normal Pet Supply Center owner Stan Woelfle thinks primates could be pets, but there should be a screening process for customers to determine if they could care for that pet.

Permit tags, Woelfle said, are required to purchase or sell an exotic animal or primate. His store does not have a permit tag.

Woelfle believes animals having diseases is not a valid argument for not considering them pet-worthy, because the diseased animals would have been screened out already.

The bill is being considered by a House committee and may be sent to another committee for approval before it is sent to the full House.

Zickus said she hopes an amendment could be added to allow current primate owners to keep their pets.

"I don't want to take anybody's pet away if it's in a loving environment," she said.

The bill is HB 4067.

San Antonio Express-News
January 19, 2000, Wednesday, METRO

Wild animals not suited as pets

The ultimate gift giver may have endeared himself to his true love with swans, calling birds, French hens, turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree, but experts at the Texas Department of Health say such living presents can be present serious problems for the new owners.

"Buying or giving exotic pets such as monkeys, hedgehogs, prairie dogs, reptiles or other wildlife potentially can be dangerous to both humans and the animals themselves," said veterinarian Jane Mahlow, director of the TDH Zoonosis Control Division.

These unusual animals can bring with them dangerous, sometimes deadly diseases.

African pigmy hedgehogs and reptiles such as snakes, lizards, turtles and iguanas, for instance, carry strains of salmonella bacteria in their intestines.

Salmonella bacteria do not make the animal sick, but in people it can cause serious cases of severe diarrhea, fever, vomiting, abdominal cramps or even death, especially in young children, the elderly and those with immune-compromised systems.

A person does not have to have direct contact with the reptile but can get the bacteria from another person who handles the reptile or household surfaces the animal may have touched.

"Everyone who touches the reptile or its cage should always wash their hands afterward," Mahlow said. "Also, the kitchen sink is no place to bathe reptiles or to wash their dishes, cage or aquarium."

Reptiles should not be allowed to roam around the house, especially if young children are in the home. Salmonella can live on furniture and in carpets.

"And reptiles should never be kept in child-care centers," Mahlow said.

Monkeys, too, seem irresistible, with their childlike qualities and humorous antics. But macaques, Asian monkeys including the rhesus, commonly carry the herpes B virus.

Like salmonella in reptiles, herpes B causes no noticeable disease in macaques.

But in humans, the virus (also know as monkey B virus or simply B virus) leads to an illness that can cause death. Monkey bites are the primary way humans get herpes B virus.

Cute and curious, prairie dogs draw attention to their natural villages on the Western plains of Texas. But these wild rodents come from the same area in the state where bubonic plague is found.

People may become infected by being bitten by fleas on the prairie dogs that are carrying the plague organism.

"Wild animals are best left in the wild," Mahlow said. "They can be unpredictable, possibly posing a threat to people of severe attack. And rabies from wild animals is always a concern."

And wild animals can face many problems living in captivity. Most will not live long in an average household. Their diets are different from domestic pets, and the wrong food can lead to serious nutritional deficiencies.

Many require as much care and attention as a human infant.

The Tampa Tribune
January 15, 2000, Saturday, FINAL EDITION

Runaway pet monkey mauls neighbor's dog
ROB SHAW, of The Tampa Tribune;

PALM HARBOR - Wildlife officials are on the lookout for an escaped monkey after a dog is viciously attacked.

Patrick Cambier was walking his dog Friday morning when he saw his neighbor's monkey in the street.

The next thing he knew, the primate was savagely attacking Balto, his 11-year-old Siberian husky. "He kept biting and biting and biting," said Maureen Cambier, who was not along for the walk. "My husband kept trying to kick him off. There was blood everywhere."

Finally, Cambier and some others who came to the rescue near Pop Stansel Park were able to get the spider monkey off the 65-pound dog's body. Balto lay on the sidewalk, bleeding and going into shock. He was taken to Countryside Animal Hospital, where he was treated for serious artery and tendon damage.

The monkey, owned by Ann Torke of 632 Sound View Drive, remained on the loose Friday evening. It normally is housed in a backyard cage, sheriff's officials said.

Maureen Cambier said it's not the first time the monkey has slipped out of its cage.

"The monkey has to go," she said. "He needs to be out of this neighborhood. There are a lot of children here. He could very easily have attacked one of them."

But animal control officials say they can't seize the monkey with just one biting incident on another animal. The Torkes were cited by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, however, for possession of the monkey without a valid permit.

They had a permit, but it expired last June, said the state agency's Gary Morris. The couple also was warned for having unsafe housing conditions resulting in the escape.

Spider monkeys average between 16 and 21 inches in length, without their long tail included. An average adult would weigh about 19 pounds. Rob Shaw covers Pinellas County and can be reached at (727) 799-7413 or rshaw@tampatrib.com

St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
January 15, 2000, Saturday
Escaped spider monkey mauls dog

BY: JANE MEINHARDT

PALM HARBOR - Authorities say the monkey was hiding in trees before it attacked the husky in a Palm Harbor park.

A Siberian husky walking on a leash with its master was badly injured Friday when it was attacked in Pop Stansell Park by a spider monkey authorities say escaped from a cage at a nearby residence.

Pinellas County sheriff's Sgt. Greg Tita said the dog, named Balto, was bitten severely by the monkey, which remained on the loose Friday afternoon. The dog had artery and tendon injuries requiring surgery at Countryside Animal Hospital, he said.

"It was a savage attack," said Maureen Cambier, one of Balto's owners. "He was bitten repeatedly and blood was everywhere. He's been in surgery all day."

The 11-year-old dog is expected to recover, she said, but may have permanent injuries that could cripple it.

Officials at Countryside Animal Hospital declined to discuss the dog's injuries.

Mrs. Cambier said her husband, Patrick Cambier, a cardiologist, was able to stanch the dog's bleeding until he could take it to the veterinarian for emergency treatment.

Cambier, who was not available to comment Friday, was walking Balto about 8:30 a.m. when the attack happened in the park near their house on Soundview Drive. The monkey, named Hanahan, was hiding in nearby mangroves and attacked the dog, Tita said.

With help from some neighbors and a contractor's crew working on a nearby house, the monkey was driven away.

"My husband had to repeatedly kick it," Mrs. Cambier said. "It would not let go, and it bit his sneaker."

According to Tita, the monkey is owned by Anna Torke, who lives across the street from the Cambiers. The monkey escaped from a cage at her house, he said. Torke would not comment Friday.

"Balto is a family member," Mrs. Cambier said. "He is very docile and very gentle. He was on a leash on a public street. This was a hostile monkey. What if it had been (an attack on) a child?"

Deputies and county Animal Control officers searched for the monkey Friday. It was last seen heading into mangroves near the park.

Depending on the species, spider monkeys are 14 to 26 inches high, with long limbs and a long tail that acts almost like an extra limb.

Kenny Mitchell, animal control director, said his agency would investigate circumstances involved in the attack. County ordinances regarding dangerous animals also can be applied to monkeys, he said, but attacks by monkeys are rare in Pinellas.

"All monkeys bite if they aren't controlled," Mitchell said. "They look cute, but they bite a lot and have very sharp teeth. For their size, they are very powerful."
St. Petersburg Times
14 January 2000, Friday, South Pinellas Edition

St. Petersburg council worries about monkeys
BY KELLY RYAN

Some City Council members and one woman's neighbors want the exotic pets to be outlawed.

The City Council is ready to wage war against monkey business.

Though the state regulates exotic pets such as the tamarin monkeys and the lemur living in Causeway Isles, several council members vowed Thursday to find some way to outlaw the animals they say pose a health risk.

The city will ask the Pinellas County Health Department to find out whether the pets could make people sick. The city will research new zoning rules to keep cages at least 75 feet from the nearest home.

City leaders also plan to meet with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and persuade state regulators that monkeys don't belong in residential neighborhoods.

"To be honest, I'd say let's quarantine the house and let them sue us," said council member Larry Williams. "The answer is get the monkeys out of St. Petersburg."

Since Martha Stewart (not the famous home-decor queen) moved into her west St. Petersburg neighborhood last summer with two tamarin monkeys and a lemur, some neighbors have raised a stink. They are worried about noise, pollution and disease.

But Stewart, a former research biologist and a legal writer, says her neighbors are spreading lies about the pets and her treatment of them. She says there is a breed of primates that can get people sick - but not the ones she has.

She says she has all of the appropriate permits (state officials confirm she does), she keeps her property and cages immaculate, and her pets make less noise than her neighbors' dogs.

In tears, Stewart says her pets aren't the problem - the neighbors are. She said she has been harassed since moving to St. Petersburg in August; neighbors curse at her, call police on her and honk their boat horns in the canal behind her house to torment her animals.

"I've never seen such cruel people, and I am within the law," said Stewart, 46, who added that stress about her pets has exacerbated her asthma. "They're lucky I don't sue them, and I might. This is a personal injury, and it's slander."

City Council member Robert Kersteen, whose district includes Causeway Isles, has never spoken to Stewart. But he said he believes the concerns of her neighbors, who have contacted state regulators and lobbied council members.

"It's noisy; it's outrageous," said Lynn Zirkle, who lives across the canal from Stewart. "If someone gets bit, there will be lawsuits. It's just not the place to raise monkeys."

On Thursday, Kersteen went to City Hall with a videotape of the Nov. 17 20/20 news magazine program, which a council subcommittee viewed. The video stoked the council's concerns.

During the program, a reporter described people getting infected from monkeys carrying herpes B, tuberculosis, hepatitis and other diseases. Some species of monkeys, which are becoming more popular as pets, were described as an "emerging public health threat."

"I'm really concerned from a communicable disease standpoint," said council member Rene Flowers. "This is dangerous."

An official with the Bureau of State Epidemiology has told the St. Petersburg Times that macaques can carry herpes, but that tamarins and lemurs do not. They also do not carry HIV, the official said.

The city has tried before to regulate exotic pets - in 1986, it was cougars. But a court struck down the city's rules, saying the city has no authority to regulate wildlife.

Council members remain undeterred. They said the primate problem is too big "Kersteen called it an "emergency") to ignore.

But Stewart thinks the city's panic is silly and a waste of taxpayers' resources. "That's absurd," Stewart said.

Des Moines Register
January 8, 2000 Saturday
Wayward monkey heading for a new home

BY: Jeff Eckhoff

The unfortunate incarceration of a rhesus macaque monkey comes to an end today.

Nicky, held by Des Moines Animal Control officers since before Thanksgiving, is scheduled to depart for a new Kentucky home at 8 a.m.

Police Sgt. David Huberty said the monkey, which was found wandering in a north-side neighborhood Nov. 23, will be driven to Chicago by Tom Colvin of the local Animal Rescue League. There, Colvin will turn the monkey over to officials of the Primate Rescue Center Inc., a Nicholasville, Ky.-based organization that has been trying to adopt Nicky for weeks.

Huberty said regulations forced Animal Control to keep the monkey locked up. "The problem is we can't release it without a health certificate," Huberty said. "They're carriers of various diseases."

The first blood sample got lost during shipping to a lab in Texas. A second came back clean. By that time, however, the monkey had bitten an animal control worker, forcing a 12-day quarantine.

April Truitt, founder of the primate center, was one of several people who offered to take the rhesus. Des Moines Mayor Preston Daniels said he received several pleas on the monkey's behalf, and he's happy to have Nicky off his back.

"I'm getting monkey letters from PETA. I'm getting monkey letters from somebody up at Iowa State. . . " Daniels said. "I just want the monkey gone."

St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
July 05, 2000, Wednesday
Monkey owner found dead at home

BY: JON WILSON

ST. PETERSBURG -- Some blame Martha Stewart's suicide on neighborhood complaints about her pet monkeys she kept at her home. "She felt her neighbors didn't like her anymore."

Martha Stewart's monkeys have been taken elsewhere and her ashes, as she requested, will be scattered over water.

The 47-year-old Causeway Isles resident, whose lemur and two tamarin monkeys upset neighbors and brought City Hall attention, was found dead at home on June 13.

The medical examiner's officer ruled the death a gunshot suicide. Police found a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver, according to reports.

"She felt her neighbors didn't like her anymore," said City Council member Bob Kersteen, who represents the Causeway Isles neighborhood.

Newspaper and television reports featured Stewart and her pets last year soon after she moved into the trim house at 7949 Fourth Ave. S. Neighbors said they were concerned about the animals' noise and diseases they might spread.

The controversy came before the City Council, which asked the city staff to find a way to ban the animals.

But that proved to be difficult because state regulations governed Stewart's animals - and a state wildlife officer said she was within the law.

Authorities were not poised to take Stewart's animals. No city action was pending.

"There was nothing threatening her animals," said Mark Winn, senior assistant city attorney.

Stewart had complained to the media, friends and relatives about neighbors harassing her. "She couldn't even go out in her front yard," said her sister Kathryn Jachna.

There were signs Stewart was about to put the situation behind her.

Kersteen said he believed Stewart, who had degrees in law, marine science and ornithology, was planning to move out of the neighborhood.

A friend had removed the monkeys, then returned the next day to get the cages and discovered Stewart's body, said Jachna.

Jachna said she did not know her sister had a gun, nor, said Kersteen, did anyone in St. Petersburg.

"It's unfortunate when something like this happens," Kersteen said. "I don't feel good about it. It pains me."

Jachna said Stewart left no note, "but she left a lot of papers concerning the neighbors."

Lynn Zirkle was one of Stewart's neighbors. "It's a shame the lady killed herself," he said, adding that animal regulation remains a concern.

"Even though the monkeys are gone out of my neighborhood, it's still a problem in the city," he said. "We can't drop it now just because these are gone."

The Des Moines Register
December 28, 1999, Tuesday
Monkey adoption delayed: 'Nicky' nipped a handler, leading to a quarantine, but now his chances look good.
By TOM ALEX, Register Staff Writer

Attempts by Des Moines animal control officers to place a runaway monkey in a good home have been beset by bad luck, health concerns and a nip to a handler by the animal in question.

After more than a month, the monkey who was swinging around a north-side neighborhood is on the fast track to adoption.

"We don't want to keep him one day longer than we have to," said Des Moines police Sgt. David Huberty. "My goal is to find the best place for him and get rid of him as fast as we can."

Groups and individuals have expressed interest in adopting the monkey, including the Primate Rescue Center Inc. of Nicholasville, Ky.

April Truitt, founder of the rescue center, has been trying to adopt the monkey but as one obstacle after another stalled adoption, she wrote a letter to Des Moines Mayor Preston Daniels, pleading for help. She wrote that she had learned the monkey had bitten a handler, was in quarantine for 12 days, and at the end of that time might be euthanized as a "vicious animal."

Huberty said animal control officers never planned to destroy the animal unless it presented a clear health risk. Adoption procedures stalled when officials learned the monkey, named Nicky by an animal control employee, was not a South American spider monkey but instead a rhesus macaque, which can carry the fatal herpes B virus.

Huberty said a blood sample from the monkey was sent to a laboratory for analysis. That sample was lost during shipping. A second sample made it to the lab and the little macaque was given a clean bill of health.

About the same time, the monkey bit a handler when its leash became tangled. The mandatory quarantine followed.

"We have several groups or individuals who would like to have the monkey," Huberty said. "Before we give it to one of them we have to have a health certificate, they have to be aware of the risks and they will have to show proof of insurance in case something would happen."

Truitt hopes to welcome Nicky to the Primate Rescue Center, which has 11 chimpanzees and 35 monkeys. The center already has the insurance necessary to fulfill legal obligations, Truitt said.

Nicky was found Nov. 23 running around the 1800 block of Allison Avenue. " We still don't know whom it belonged to," Huberty said.

Nicky apparently had been living in a garage. "No one has come forward to claim it." That's not surprising, because a monkey is an illegal animal under city code.

The Capital (Annapolis, MD.)
December 27, 1999, Monday

Man loses appeal to keep monkey

BY: By BRIAN M. SCHLETER Staff Writer

A Glen Burnie man whose pet monkey was taken by the county after it bit a woman in a local bar has lost an appeal seeking custody of the animal.

The county Board of Appeals voted 4-2 earlier this month not to return Jamie the macaque monkey to his owner, Steven Ritterspach, and his family. Jamie was taken from the Ritterspachs in April fo lowing the biting incident at the Speak Easy Bar in Glen Burnie. The Ritterspachs appeared before the board Dec. 1 and told board members they deserved a second chance because they weren't educated on how to care for a pet monkey when they lost Jamie.

But Assistant County Attorney Sally Iliff argued that Mr. Ritterspach had a history of abusing second chances granted him by county Animal Control in previous biting and scratching cases.

Board of Appeals members could not comment on the decision be cause the case is still open, Chair man Anthony Lamartina said.

Once the board issues a written decision, the Ritterspachs will have 30 days to appeal in court. The monkey is being kept in a Howard County animal shelter.

Mr. Ritterspach could not be reached for comment.

Animal Control officers seized Jamie following Mr. Ritterspach's April 3 arrest on charges of assault and disorderly conduct. Mr. Ritterspach and his wife, Kimberly, stopped at the bar for a drink after attending a party with their monkey. Mr. Ritterspach was arrested for his role in a fight that erupted when a woman he didn't know tried to take Jamie off his wife's shoulder, he said at the Board of Appeals hearing.

A District Court judge acquitted him on three counts of assault Dec. 1, but Mr. Ritterspach was found guilty of reckless endangerment, according to court records.

District Judge David Bruce or ordered Mr. Ritterspach to pay a $1,000 fine and suspended a sixmonth jail sentence. Judge Bruce also placed Mr. Ritterspach on probation until February 2008, said Kristin Riggin, a spokesman for the State's Attorney's Office.

Mr. Ritterspach will return to District Court Jan. 24 to answer to a charge of "monkey being a public nuisance." He was previously found guilty on Nov. 15 of failure to confine a vicious animal, a misdemeanor.

THE BALTIMORE SUN
December 23, 1999, Thursday, ARUNDEL

Owners denied custody of pet monkey; Couple vows to keep fighting
for primate that nipped people

Andrea F. Siegel

Jamie won't be home for Christmas -- or maybe not ever again.

The male macaque, blamed for inflicting minor injuries on several people and igniting a barroom brawl, will not be returned to his Glen Burnie owners, the Anne Arundel County Board of Appeals has decided.

But the owners, Steven and Kimberly Ritterspach, vowed yesterday to challenge the ruling in Circuit Court. "I won't let this end," said Steven Ritterspach, noting that he has spent $20,000 on efforts to regain custody of the pet monkey that was seized and relocated by Anne Arundel animal control officials to a wildlife refuge in Howard County. "We won't give up fighting for him. We love him, and we want him back."

The board voted 4-2, with one member not participating in the case, against giving the couple another chance to better control the 9- pound primate alleged to have nipped and scratched seven people. A written opinion by the board is due within a month.

Jamie was removed from the Ritterspach home after biting a woman on the lip in a Glen Burnie bar -- an incident that occurred after animal control officials had ordered the couple to keep the monkey away from the public.

That incident, at the Speak-Easy- Inn, led to a fight and police filing misdemeanor criminal charges against Ritterspach. Two weeks ago, Ritterspach was found not guilty of most charges, but convicted of recklessly endangering other people, fined $1,000, and given a six-month suspended sentence.

Ritterspach said he and his wife, who bottle-fed Jamie from infancy and allowed him to sleep in their bed, were devastated by the decision. Though county law would not bar them from getting a new monkey, they have been fighting to regain custody of Jamie for eight months because they consider him part of their family, he said.

The couple bought the monkey in 1997, after their prematurely born infant died. Ritterspach said that while a pet is not a replacement for a child, taking care of the monkey helped Kimberly Ritterspach deal with the loss of the infant and two others since.

The loss of Jamie has left his wife depressed, he said. "It gives you love and you love it back, and to have it taken from you is more than my wife and I can handle."

The board's vote, finalized this week, upholds a finding by animal control officials, who said that the primate is a public menace, and that its owners disregarded warnings to keep it under control.

Fined three times in less than a year, the couple has challenged each penalty, once with success and once without; the third is pending.

"They are not responsible enough to control an animal that is a danger to the public," said Sarah M. Iliff, the assistant county attorney who represented animal control officials.

Testimony at the Board of Appeals hearing, including that of a Baltimore Zoo veterinarian, indicated that macaques are aggressive and can carry diseases that are potentially fatal to humans.

Responsibility for the macaque rests with Tahira Shane Thomas, animal control administrator, who said she is inclined to let the 2-year-old monkey stay where it has resided since April, at Frisky's Wildlife and Primate Refuge in Woodstock.

THE DAILY OKLAHOMAN
December 22, 1999, Wednesday CITY EDITION
Exotic animal law altered New macaques still not allowed
Jack Money, Staff Writer

Oklahoma City Council members adopted numerous changes to the city's exotic animal law Tuesday, but would not relent on a continued ban against any new macaques within the community.

Instead, the council allowed four such monkeys already within the city to stay, provided their owners comply with the law and license them.

Other amendments made to the law Tuesday were to:

Delete the requirement for tuberculosis tests in all allowed monkeys, and delete Herpes B testing requirements for "new world monkeys, including capuchins, marmosets, tamarinds and squirrel monkeys. Also, extended time to license the animals to March 1.

Exempt testing for young monkeys kept by a licensed breeder.

Exempt testing for monkeys if a private veterinarian certifies the animal doesn't represent a health problem.

Reduce the licensing fee for breeders from $ 500 to $ 100.

Most of Tuesday's debate again focused on whether macaques should be allowed within the city.

The discussion, which lasted more than an hour, even included a segment from a broadcast news magazine about the monkeys and the debate they spawn.

While monkey lovers and veterinarians maintain there has never been a documented case where a macaque has transmitted a disease to someone within the general public, council members worried that many of the macaques making their way into private ownership are from labs and zoos.

"Once these animals are out there, it is hard to document where they came from," said Ward 2 Councilwoman Amy Brooks, who met with monkey lovers to craft the compromise allowing the city's four resident macaques to remain.

"If somebody wants a monkey, why can't they get a new world monkey?" Brooks asked. "We are allowing the new world monkeys. Why do they have to get a macaque?

"This will prevent any potential dangerous animals from coming into the community," she said.

The law changes approved by the council Tuesday also lengthened the time allowed for big cat owners to register their animals with the city to Feb. 15.

Assistant City Manager Kathie Wrights said the additional time for big cats registrations stems from changes in how the city wants the animals to be documented.

Wrights said owners will have to put identity microchips into the animals, provide the city with two color photographs of the animals, and get written consent from abutting homeowners to prove the animals are welcome.

Council members decided during an earlier debate to allow city residents to own lions, tigers, leopards, panthers, cougars, bobcats, ocelots, cheetahs, margays, mountain lions, lynxes, jaguars and jaguarundi, but only if certain conditions are met.

They can only keep one big cat and only on properties that are at least five acres in size.

Chicago Tribune
December 3, 1999 Friday, FINAL EDITION
VIRUS-POSITIVE MONKEYS WILL BE MOVED

BY: From Tribune News Services.

EVANSVILLE, INDIANA --Six monkeys that tested positive for a virus that is potentially deadly to humans will be moved in January from their home at an Evansville zoo to a Texas research facility.

Ron Young, director of the Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden, said the lion-tailed macaque monkeys will be on "permanent loan" to the National Center for Retired Research Primates in Helotes, Texas.

On Oct. 3, one of the monkeys bit a child who crossed barriers at the zoo and stuck a hand in the monkey exhibit. All six monkeys in the exhibit later tested positive for the herpes B simian virus. If transmitted to a human, it can cause encephalitis.

The Dallas Morning News
November 27, 1999, Saturday THIRD EDITION
Capuchin caper;

Couple wants Euless to amend law so they can keep their pet monkey

BY: Tiara M. Ellis

EULESS - When Teresa Luque took Precious along on the search for her lost parrot, she didn't expect the city's animal control officials to tell her she couldn't keep her beloved pet.

Oh, she could keep the parrot. But Precious, a baby monkey, is classified by city ordinance as an exotic animal and is therefore an illegal pet in Euless.

Mrs. Luque and her husband, Terry, are asking the city to amend the regulations so they can keep the capuchin.

"She's our baby," Mrs. Luque said while showing off photographs of the 7-month-old primate before a City Council meeting Tuesday. "We've raised her, and she is our child."

The council made no immediate decision but considered arguments on both sides. Randy Byers, the city's director of public works, said the ban was established to protect people from the diseases and aggressive nature of many exotic animals.

"Any time we talk about pets, it becomes a very emotional issue," Mr. Byers said.

"But studies show that when monkeys enter their adolescent years, they become more aggressive. Sort of like a teenage boy," Mr. Byers joked.

The Luques said capuchins are no danger to Euless residents.

Mr. Luque said monkeys have been used to assist people who have multiple sclerosis or other movement-hindering diseases.

"If the United States government thought [monkeys] were a danger, they would not have backed this program," he said.

"This shows that not all primates are a threat to mankind or a threat to neighbors," said Mr. Luque. "It shows that there are certain monkeys that, in the eyes of the government and the eyes of the doctors, are not a threat."

The Luques acknowledged that Precious has bitten one person. A couple of weeks after animal control officials informed Mrs. Luque that monkeys were not permitted in the city, Precious bit an elderly woman who had invited the couple to her home so her grandchildren could see the monkey, Mr. Luque said.

Mrs. Luque said the woman's oxygen mouthpiece scared Precious and incited her to bite the woman. The Luques said Precious has had all of the shots required by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The Luques and Mr. Byers presented opposing information on whether monkeys could spread disease.

Mr. Byers said the sources cited by Mr. Luque either breed monkeys or have some other self-serving interest in the issue. The public works director said the information he gathered came from doctors and veterinarians who would gain nothing by the way they described monkeys.

Mr. Byers added that the city had to deal with a similar case almost a year ago. A resident had a spider monkey that was taken to an elementary school, where it bit a child. That resident lived in an apartment and chose to relocate, said Mr. Byers.

The Luques bought their home in Euless earlier this year and want to stay with their monkey, said Mr. Luque. "We like this area," he said. "We like our neighbors. We want Precious to live here with us."

Precious lives in her own room in the Luques' home. She even has her own toys and outfits.

"We don't want to move. But if we can't stay here with Precious, we'll have to move to Arlington, Irving or Colleyville," Mrs. Luque said, indicating three of the surrounding cities that allow certain monkeys within their city limits.

Euless council members may decide the issue as early as Dec. 14.

Fort Worth Star Telegram
November 27, 1999, Saturday FINAL EDITION

Monkeyshines Euless officials face a tough decision about a pet primate.

You'd have to be a pretty hard-hearted person not to have a lot of sympathy for Teresa and Terry Luque. All the Euless residents want is permission from the city to keep Precious, a 7-month-old capuchin monkey, in their home. Sympathy, of course. But change the city ordinance that bans primates as pets in Euless? No.

Precious is oh-so-cute. She's a tiny thing that drinks baby formula from a bottle. She plays with her toys and even wears earrings and dresses. The Luques say that she poses no more of hazard than a dog or a cat.

But city animal-control officials say otherwise. They say that monkeys can pose health and safety problems for the rest of the community, that they can be aggressive and that they shouldn't be allowed as pets.

And some animal experts agree. Courtney Grafa, a spokeswoman at the Fort Worth Zoo, says that primates just don't make good pets because they are unpredictable in their behavior and prefer outdoor areas where they can move and swing.

Euless officials discovered that Precious was in town after she bit an elderly woman. The Luques point out that cats and dogs bite, too.

Of the communities near Euless, only Irving and Arlington allow monkeys as pets. The Luques say that they will move out of town if they can't keep Precious in their Euless home.

City Council members, who have been briefed on the Precious problem, face a hard-hearted decision. But they should not change their monkey ordinance.

Show: 20/20 Date: November 17, 1999
CO-HOSTS: Diane Sawyer and Charles Gibson
DIANE SAWYER: Tonight, 20/20 exposes a frightening practice. Monkeys, some infected with dangerous viruses, released by research labs and zoos, and sold by free-wheeling dealers as harmless pets.
Mr. RICHARD FARINATO: People think of them as babies in fur coats. And they're anything but.
SAWYER: Exposure to an infected monkey killed this 22-year-old lab worker in just six weeks. The same breed, kept as a pet, attacked this little girl when its owner brought the monkey to a campground.
Ms. ASHLEE BOLWAR: Then the monkey jumped on my leg and just bit me.
SAWYER: Is a pet owner in your neighborhood harboring a cute little killer?
Chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross uncovers a disturbing trade in potentially dangerous animals, Monkey Business.
MONKEY BUSINESS
DIANE SAWYER: Good evening, and welcome to 20/20 WEDNESDAY. Charlie and I are so happy to have you joining us tonight. We're going to begin with a potential source of disease which could be moving into your neighborhood, and we suspect it's one you've never heard about before. More and more people are getting monkeys as pets, and, in most cases, it's perfectly legal to buy a monkey or to keep one at home.
CHARLES GIBSON: But the question is, where do these exotic pets come from? As you're about to see, our chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross has uncovered the surprising and disturbing source of a growing number of pet monkeys and what might be a very real danger behind those big, brown eyes.
Unidentified Woman #1: I've always wanted a monkey, ever since I was a little girl.
Unidentified Woman #2: They do everything with us. They go away with us.
Unidentified Woman #3: Can't help but love 'em. Just like having a little baby.
Unidentified Woman #4: I can't imagine somebody being without a monkey.
Mr. RICHARD FARINATO: They are dressed up. They are made into little human beings. People think of them as babies in fur coats, and they are anything but.
BRIAN ROSS reporting: (Voiceover) Richard Farinato loves animals, but what he doesn't love, as a former zoo curator and now working for the Humane Society of the United States, is what he says is going on in the monkey trade, the business of monkeys. A booming business, as 20/20 found in a four-month undercover investigation.
(Richard Farinato working)
Unidentified Man #1: Usually, I get $1,500 for the males, if they specify female, $1,800.
ROSS: (Voiceover) With potentially infected monkeys, often right out of the country's research labs and zoos, ending up in the hands of dealers like this man in Tennessee, who offer them as pets for thousands of dollars.
(Dean Olinger in shop)
Mr. DEAN OLINGER: Deposits are nonrefundable.
ROSS: (Voiceover) With scant attention paid to health risks and few laws to stop it.
(Olinger in office)
Mr. FARINATO: Every time you touch that animal, take the animal out on a leash, hold the monkey in your arm, show him to the kid next door, this is dangerous stuff, whether it's physical injury or whether it's disease transmission.
ROSS: (Voiceover) Yet they are often advertised as diaper-wearing and bottle-fed, perfect for couples who want a new baby.
(Monkeys in diapers; monkeys with pacifiers)
Unidentified Woman #5: He's part of our family. He's not really a pet.
Unidentified Woman #6: This is my late-life child.
ROSS: (Voiceover) Including, incredibly, the species of monkey known as the macaque, like these two, all possible carriers of a fast-moving and usually fatal virus called herpes B. It is the very kind of monkey that led to the death two years ago of a 22-year-old researcher at Emory University, Beth Griffin, who died just six weeks after she was splashed in the eye with body fluid from a macaque. In research labs, particularly since Beth Griffin's death, anyone getting anywhere near macaques is trained to wear extensive protective clothing and plastic face shields.
(Monkeys; photo of Beth Griffin; research laboratory; monkeys in laboratory cages)
Unidentified Offscreen Voice: (From research lab training video) Treat all macaques as if they were herpes B-positive.
ROSS: (Voiceover) None of those precautions could be seen at this picnic thrown by monkey owners in Florida, where people were kissing and sharing drinks with their macaques. These pet owners say their macaques have tested virus-free, but experts warn the virus can appear at anytime, even in monkeys once tested tested as virus-free.
(Monkey picnic)
Unidentified Man #2: No matter how you treat them, they will always turn to you for affection and love. It's something I guess every human wants to have throughout their entire life.
ROSS: (Voiceover) To date, there have been 29 known deaths from macaques and herpes B, all involving laboratory workers, and scientists at the Centers for Disease Control say the growing trade in macaques as pets in the last few years constitutes an emerging public health threat.
(Monkeys at picnic; CDC statement)
Dr. MIRA LESLIE: Macaques, actually, are the most common monkey that's sold in Arizona and probably throughout the United States. They're very commonly bred and sold in the pet trade.
ROSS: (Voiceover) Dr. Mira Leslie, the state veterinarian in Arizona, has spent the last three years pushing for a law to get pet monkeys banned altogether because of so many close calls.
(Dr. Mira Leslie working)
Dr. LESLIE: There are all kinds of different public locations where people have been bitten, a busy shopping mall at Christmas, a health club, a campground.
ROSS: (Voiceover) Almost half of the victims were children, the most recent, 8-year-old Ashlee Bolwar, bitten this summer by a pigtail macaque whose owner brought it to a popular state campground.
(Ashlee Bolwar in swiming pool)
Ms. ASHLEY BOLWAR: We were looking for crawdads, and we were just playing around, looking for them. And then the monkey jumped on my leg and just bit me.
ROSS: (Voiceover) Ashlee's parents, Karen and Andy Bolwar, first thought of rabies. But what the state vet told them was much worse.
(Karen and Andy Bolwar at home)
Ms. KAREN BOLWAR: She had told me how bad the herpes B was. And she had told me that there was a 70% mortality rate. And my heart just sank.
ROSS: (Voiceover) The Bolwars were lucky. The monkey that bit Ashlee wasn't shedding the herpes B virus on that particular day, as often happens, but it was a terrible two weeks before their daughter tested virus-free.
(Bolwar family walking)
Mr. ANDY BOLWAR: I mean, I went to bed every night crying. I mean, I lost five pounds in two days from the stress. I mean, it was horrible.
ROSS: (Voiceover) And the same horrible wait has just ended for another set of parents in Evansville, Indiana, where last month, a child visiting the zoo stuck his hand in a cage and was bitten by one of six macaques. The monkeys, since placed in a cage with a Plexiglas shield, all tested positive for herpes B, although the child has not.
(Aerial photo of Evansville; zoo; monkeys in cage at zoo)
Dr. LESLIE: When you have a disease that's that fatal, you just don't mess around.
ROSS: (Voiceover) And Dr. Leslie says the concern goes far beyond just the macaques and the herpes-B virus, that virtually all monkeys pose a serious health risk.
(Dr. Leslie working)
Dr. LESLIE: There are poxviruses, herpesviruses, salmonella, lots of parasitic diseases, hepatitis, tuberculosis. There are all kinds of diseases, a much longer list than with any other animal.
ROSS: This woman has been trying to keep secret the fact that an exotic monkey, a spider monkey, bit her.
(Unidentified woman in home)
Unidentified Woman #6: The spots started coming up right after.
ROSS: She has symptoms that her doctors in a small midwestern town cannot diagnose, repeated outbreaks of something that appears to be, but is not, chicken pox.
Woman #6: It liquefies the muscle and the flesh, and they have to drain all that out.
ROSS: (Voiceover) All from one monkey bite.
(Unidentified woman in interview)
Mr. FARINATO: We see animals now out there that we never saw before.
ROSS: And according to Richard Farinato at the Humane Society, the trade in exotic monkeys is being fueled by the country's zoos and university research centers, whose surplus monkeys have ended up in the hands of unscrupulous dealers and brokers.
(Farinato and Ross walking)
ROSS: You worked in zoos.
Mr. FARINATO: Uh-huh.
ROSS: Did you see this firsthand?
Mr. FARINATO: I did it firsthand.
ROSS: You did it?
Mr. FARINATO: When we had too many animals, especially excess males that wouldn't get along, we had to place them. We had to move them out of the zoo.
So out the door the animal goes. And in most cases, where it's going to end up is in the trade.
ROSS: So you point your finger right at the zoos and the research labs.
Mr. FARINATO: You have to. There's no other way that these animals would be out there.
ROSS: (Voiceover) Federal authorities say animals have come from some of the most prestigious zoos and universities, including Tulane University in Louisiana, now the subject of a federal grand jury investigation into how dozens of potentially dangerous and highly endangered research monkeys from their labs ended up in the pet trade.
(Monkeys in holding area; Tulane sign)
Mr. FARINATO: Tulane was the importing institution. Tulane said they wanted these animals. Tulane said they were going to use these animals and needed these animals. Simple ownership responsibility.
ROSS: (Voiceover) Tulane says it thought its monkeys were just going to a private zoo and a wildlife preserve, not the pet trade. But going undercover, 20/20 tracked some of the monkeys to the small town of Lebanon, Tennessee, and something called the Worldwide Exotics Wildlife Center, run by a convicted felon, this man, Dean Olinger, who provided a fascinating insight into how the monkey trade works. The monkeys from Tulane are called white-crowned mangabeys, a breed that can carry a monkey virus similar to HIV, something of great concern to public health officials. The mangabeys are so rare that there's only one in an accredited zoo in all of North America. But Olinger has at least nine of them.
(Brian Ross driving; Olinger at work; Olinger showing monkeys)
Mr. OLINGER: These mangabeys right here, 99% of the people in the United States will never see them.
ROSS: (Voiceover) In a cage in the rear of Olinger's property, we could actually see the identifying tattoo Tulane researchers had put on one of the mangabeys, number L688. That matched up with documents obtained by 20/20, an official roster of some 150 mangabeys, including L688, all imported by Tulane from Africa under a special exemption allowing endangered monkeys to be used only for research projects.
(Caged monkey; Tulane documents; caged monkey)
Unidentified Woman #8: Hi, Nikita.
ROSS: (Voiceover) Now, after moving from one dealer to another, their offspring for sale in Tennessee for $4,500, and the only law against doesn't involve health risks, but the fact that the monkeys are an endangered species.
(Monkey playing; Olinger at home)
Mr. OLINGER: The problem is, that, you know, I need to sell to somebody in state.
ROSS: (Voiceover) It's illegal to sell an endangered monkey across state lines.
But when a 20/20 producer, answering an ad Olinger had placed made it clear that she lived in New York and would be taking the monkey back to New York, Olinger told us he could find a way for us to acquire a mangabey he called Nikita, but only after making sure his visitors were not federal agents.
(Olinger at home)
Mr. OLINGER: Neither one of you are affiliated with any law enforcement agency anywhere, right?
Unidentified 20/20 Producer: Right.
Mr. OLINGER: You don't work for the feds?
20/20 Producer: No.
Mr. OLINGER: You're not undercover?
20/20 Producer: We're not with any law enforcement agencies.
Mr. OLINGER: You just want a pet monkey?
20/20 Producer: Right.
Mr. OLINGER: OK, we can work out a donation thing on Nikita.
ROSS: (Voiceover) Olinger has set up his monkey business as a nonprofit corporation and said he would call the sale of Nikita a donation. He said our $500 downpayment for the so-called "donation" was not refundable.
(Olinger at home speaking to 20/20 producers)
Mr. OLINGER: Put it down over there.
ROSS: (Voiceover) And while Olinger accepted our money, he would not touch it, reciting in detail the federal law on endangered animals.
(Olinger speaking with 20/20 producers)
Mr. OLINGER: There's this thing called the Lacey Act.
20/20 Agent: Lacey?
Mr. OLINGER: Yeah, and if you violate the Lacey Act, it's just point-blank, you're in the penitentiary. It's all said and done. They don't screw with you. They come get you. You go to jail and you live there.
ROSS: (Voiceover) Having said that, Olinger then described how to make it appear our transaction was not a sale, but just a donation between friends.
(Olinger speaking with 20/20 producers)
Mr. OLINGER: You and I have known each other for years. We're good friends.
And you've been thinking about getting primates ever since you've known me.
And I think you deserve something like this. You're dealing with an animal that's very highly endangered and they'll just, they'll burn you on it. That's why these had to be donated.
ROSS: What do you make of that?
(Voiceover) Richard Farinato of the Humane Society says none of this would be happening if Tulane and other research labs and zoos made sure who they were dealing with before turning over their rare and potentially dangerous monkeys.
(Farinato in interview)
Mr. FARINATO: They went out the door of the facility that had imported them, that knew what they had, a rare breed of monkey, and they simply disposed of them. And now those animals are out in the trade. It's a perfect direct example.
ROSS: (Voiceover) Officials at Tulane declined to appear in this report, but in a brief statement to 20/20, Tulane said it had followed all federal and state laws. We never did complete our "deal" for the monkey, forfeiting our deposit.
And when we went back to Tennessee to ask Dean Olinger about it, he declined to talk with us.
(Tulane statement; outside Worldwide Exotic Wildlife Center; Olinger being harassed by Ross)
ROSS: I want to show you a tape of that, if I could. Is that possible?
Mr. OLINGER: No, no.
ROSS: Why don't you talk to us, sir?
(Voiceover) Olinger later called the police to order us off the property and then pelted us with rocks as we attempted to take pictures over the fence.
(Police harassing Ross; Olinger throwing rocks)
ROSS: You're gonna hurt somebody!
Mr. FARINATO: A gold mine for those individuals that want to take advantage of it, and there's nothing to stop them. It's almost that we have to reach a threshold of injury, disease, death of humans, as well as animals suffering, before somebody turns around and says, `We need to do something about this.'
GIBSON: Nobody knows for certain, but there are estimates that, right now, thousands of monkeys are being kept as pets in this country. In Arizona, there is pending legislation to restrict the sale of monkeys, and a number of other jurisdictions have already enacted similar laws. We'll be right back.
(Announcements - End of Segment)
Africa News
November 11, 1999

Rogue Monkey Bites Tanzanian School Children

Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - A pet monkey ran amok and twice invaded a Dar Es Salaam elementary school, terribly scaring the pupils and biting three of them. The incident took place Tuesday at the City Academy close to the University of Dar Es Salaam, some 12 km from the city centre. Eyewitnesses said a seemingly deranged small brown monkey first leaped into a classroom of Grade 1 at around 12 noon through an open window and attacked
six-year-old George Mwakyembe, the son of a lecturer at the university.

It was immediately driven out by the screaming class but reappeared three hours later and burst into the same classroom again. This time it attacked Ayub Hosea and Sweet Muro, aged seven and five, respectively.

One of the school's teachers, who declined to be identified, said the monkey was being kept as a pet by a senior army officer living close to the school.

The kids sustained injuries in their arms and legs.

They were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment and inoculation against possible monkey disease infection. The incident was reported to the police. Owners of the school and the parents have threatened to take the monkey's owner to court.

Although Tanzanian law generally prohibits keeping wildlife as pet, some people, particularly in rural areas, domesticate monkeys.

The San Francisco Examiner
November 5, 1999, Friday; Second Edition

Pets suffering through Net craze: Illegal animal sales

BY: JANE KAY

A young man walked into the Peninsula Humane Society in San Mateo two weeks ago, holding a shoe box. Inside was a tiny tree-dwelling monkey no bigger than his hand, a South American pygmy marmoset.

Just like buying a pair of shoes, the man's girlfriend had purchased the baby primate as a novelty on the Internet.

The marmoset, quiet and cold, had started to fail, and the man was desperately trying to save its life. Humane Society official swarmed and fed the wild monkey, which is illegal to possess in California, and this weekend will send it to a Texas primate sanctuary.

Dr. Kari Pettit, the Peninsula Humane Society's staff veterinarian, along with other animal protection experts, say the young marmoset, which has been named Chichica, is just one more example of the growing problem of illegal Internet trafficking in live animals and parts of dead endangered species.

"It's unfortunate that people are able to get these animals," Pettit said. "We see everything from water dragons to snakes to chameleons to exotic birds."

More than 1,000 Internet sites, some under the phrase "animals for sale", offer to sell, give care advice or, covertly, provide chat rooms where buyers and sellers can haggle over price, according to Connecticut- based Friends of Animals.

Just last week Pettit read a woman's chat room query for marmoset breeders and potential sellers. "It was horrendous," she said. Monkeys, she added, make horrible pets.

"They can't be housebroken," she said. "They're like a 2-year-old. They require 24-hour care. You just can't lock them in a cage."

At the Humane Society, the marmoset has grown to 3 ounces in weight and 5 inches in length. Over the weekend, a volunteer will take it to the Texas sanctuary.

"We gave her fluids, and she just devoured them," said Pettit, who has worked in Uganda with African primates. "Most people feed them fruits and vegetables when they need more protein. In the wild, they eat crickets and other insects as well as fruit. They eat a lot of sap."

People don't understand that these monkeys need a great deal of social stimulation, she said.

"Usually, babies stay with their mother for two years. They're constantly clinging. They need to learn from their moms and other animals in the group. Who knows what had happened to her in her past. We don't know what she's been through."

In California, it is against the law to import any of a long list of animals. The list includes both wild and domestic animals, including primates, prairie dogs, hedgehogs and ferrets. Violating the law is a misdemeanor offense carrying a penalty of up to $ 1,000 and one year in jail.

The young woman who bought the marmoset won't be prosecuted. The Humane Society is keeping her identity confidential out of concern that releasing her name might discourage others from bringing in animals that need help.

Meanwhile, state animal protection agencies are grappling with how to deal with animal trafficking on the Internet.

"There isn't anything anyone can do about people buying animals on the Internet," said Ron Jurick, a state Fish and Game Department enforcement agent. "You can advertise anything you want. You can buy anything you want.

The enforcement would come at the border or once the animal's here."

It is illegal to smuggle certain animals into California whether the sale took place over the Internet or not. The state operates 16 checkpoints for cars, and airlines monitor for the illegal importation of live animals. Some seaports also check.

"We know there are lots of things that are smuggled across the border," Jurick said. "Every once in a while, there'll be an accident, and something like a caiman will get out. It's a reflection of what's going on all the time."

There are reasons for the laws, he said. The animals can spread disease, threaten native species and end up suffering before they die. Also, taking them depletes their native countries' wildlife populations.

Under federal law, it's illegal to buy or sell an endangered species in interstate commerce, whether it's over the Internet or not, said Special Agent Bob Snow of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office in Burlingame. In the last year, Snow's office investigated 120 sales of endangered species on the Internet.

His agency also prohibits commerce in marine mammals and migratory birds, including stuffed songbirds and raptors. The sale of dead animals or parts is also prohibited, including walrus tusks and whale baleen.

Federal laws carry fines of up to $ 250,000 and five years in prison.

"We see people buying animal parts over the Internet, leopard skins, rhinoceros horns, elephant ivory, sea turtles and turtle products," Snow said.

People list the items for auction on sites like eBay, which has cooperated with the federal government by removing the illegal offerings when it hears about them, said Snow.

This weekend, Chichica, the marmoset, is going to the country's oldest and largest primate sanctuary, Primarily Primates in San Antonio.

Its founder and director, Wallace Swett, believes that the animal was trapped in the wild and smuggled into the United States.

"I've become increasingly alarmed about the rise in sales of exotics, especially facilitated by the Internet right now," said Swett.

"The trade itself is alarming. But with the Internet advertisements and sales right now, it makes it even less possible to check on the credentials of the sellers or how they came in possession of this type of wildlife."

November/December 1999
MotherJones Magazine
High-Risk Monkey Business, by Alan Green

The exotic-animal trade is moving disease-carrying primates from labs and zoos into the hands of pet owners. The results, scientists warn, can be deadly.

Ringo is tethered to a sink pipe by a four-foot leash attached to his collar. The two-year-old, pig-tailed macaque has been bathed and toweled dry, his tail pulled through a disposable diaper that's fastened with duct tape. He wears a red-checked union suit to keep his diaper on and prevent him from getting a chill, and plays with a teddy bear and some plastic toys.

Every minute, as if on cue, Ringo utters a high-pitched cry. The monkey grabs for the pant legs of passers-by. He flings his toys across the room, then wails until they're returned. He tries to hoist himself into the sink, feet first. But because the leash is too short today, he is unable to complete his upside-down climb and tumbles to the floor. He keeps trying.

Ringo looks like a typical pet monkey: a bit rambunctious perhaps, but not dangerous. Nevertheless, he belongs to a category of primates that veterinarian Terri Parrott calls "time bombs" -- for many of them harbor highly infectious viruses that can be transmitted to humans, resulting in such deadly diseases as herpes B.

Ringo's home, Parrott's veterinary clinic in Cooper City, Florida, has a wing devoted to the care of native and nonnative wildlife. She is one of the few veterinarians in Florida who specialize in treating exotic species.

Consequently, pets, castoffs, and all manner of "problem animals" find their way to her clinic. When the owner of a blind baboon died of AIDS, for example, friends of the deceased arrived with the animal and its high chair and said simply, "Here, take this monkey." State and federal wildlife authorities often deposit confiscated animals -- such as a tiger that turned up at a gas station in Hialeah -- with Parrott. In addition to Ringo, the current primate inventory includes a capuchin seized during a federal drug bust.

These animals' fates are typical of those suffered by monkeys and other exotic pets, which are often passed like relay batons from one owner to the next. The sale and resale of certain exotic species is legal in most parts of the country (though some jurisdictions prohibit keeping certain wild animals as pets, and others require that owners be licensed). The exotic-animal trade is regulated by a confusing mélange of authorities:

State veterinarians handle health matters related to the sale and ownership of these animals; state fish and game agencies are responsible for overseeing some animals, while agriculture departments monitor others; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regulates the interstate -- but not intrastate -- sale of endangered species; and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) watches over the importation of primates and, presumably, their resale as pets, which in some cases is legal and in others is not. In short, no one is in charge.

Little wonder that exotic pets are so often doomed to confinement in backyard cages or basements. Some are released to the wild, where they die from disease or starvation. Others end up with breeders, who sell newborns to pet owners ill equipped to care for them. Still others are foisted off on "sanctuaries" that often are merely fronts for illicit animal-peddling operations.

Parrott knows that finding Ringo a suitable home will be anything but easy. His unruliness -- so evident on this day -- will only complicate the search: The foot-and-a-half-tall monkey somehow manages to unsnap the leash from his collar and sprint across the examining room, swiping at jars and folders. Parrott eventually corners the escape artist, who is surprisingly submissive when she pins his arms behind his back. Ringo marches obediently across the room and allows her to reattach the leash. This behavior, she says, is hierarchical: Ringo knows that she's dominant, and therefore he gives in to her commands.

But if that hierarchy is what allows Parrott to control Ringo, it also causes her concern; because of it, she says, anyone who owns a pet macaque faces a serious threat. "If I hit Ringo, he'll attack somebody else, because that's just their pecking order," she explains. "My children, who are seven, five, and four, come in here, and if I yell at Ringo he tries to attack my kids. That's the way macaques are. What's going to happen someday is that the parents are going to yell at the baby macaque, the macaque is going to bite the kid, and the kid is going to come down in 11 to 21 days with flu-like symptoms. Then they'll take him to the pediatrician, where he won't get treated correctly, and he'll die."

Parrott and a handful of veterinary colleagues have been sounding the alarm about macaques for years, though until recently few paid attention. It wasn't that science didn't support their contentions: Since the early 1930s, primatologists have known that macaques carry herpesvirus simiae, commonly known as herpes B or B virus (scientifically referred to as cercopithecine herpesvirus), which can cause a potentially fatal brain infection in humans.

Macaques typically carry the B virus throughout their lives and shed it intermittently in saliva or genital secretions. Studies of macaques - both wild and captive -- show that the proportion of B-virus-positive animals increases as they grow to maturity. At any given moment, about two percent of infected macaques are shedding the virus via saliva, urine, feces, and tears. This shedding typically happens when a monkey is ill or under stress, or during breeding season. A human who is bitten, scratched, sneezed on, or spit at while the animal is shedding runs the risk of infection. But the monkeys rarely show any signs or symptoms to indicate shedding is taking place.

Because 80 to 90 percent of adult macaques are believed to harbor the virus, humans who work in close proximity to them -- in laboratories or other research institutions -- are presumed to be in constant peril. These workers are instructed to take Biosafety Level 2 precautions, as prescribed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH): the use of lab coats, surgical masks, goggles, gloves, and other protective measures. Such protocols can have life-or-death implications, as the herpes B virus has proved fatal in approximately 80 percent of known cases. In one 1997 incident, a young research assistant at Emory University's Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center in Atlanta died from B-virus-related complications after she was splashed in the eye with an unknown body fluid when moving a rhesus macaque -- the first time this route of transmission had ever been documented.

The disease is catastrophic: It begins with fatigue and flulike symptoms that progress to headache, vomiting, double vision, difficulty swallowing, sensory loss, and convulsions. Death can come as early as four weeks after exposure, and those who survive suffer pain, paralysis, and severe neurological damage. "Those who don't die wish they had," says a physician who has studied the virus.

Public health officials have other reasons to be worried. Monkey bites can cause severe lacerations, infected wounds, and potentially debilitating conditions such as osteomyelitis, an infection of the bone that can result in permanent deformity. Monkeys can also infect humans with the Ebola virus, monkeypox, and other deadly illnesses, although this happens very rarely. But with macaques the leading public health concern is the exposure to the B virus.

Contact with macaques was, until recently, limited almost exclusively to zookeepers and biomedical researchers, who were aware of the risk of herpes B transmission and took appropriate precautions. Documented B virus infections have therefore been rare -- the CDC places the number in the United States at about 40. But in the last few years, Parrott and other veterinarians have noticed a troubling trend: The monkeys are increasingly showing up in private hands. Macaques, which come from India, China, Japan, and other parts of Asia, have entered the pet trade due in large part to zoos, university laboratories, drug companies, and other institutions that discard their unwanted primates.

Ringo ended up with a private owner, James Beekman, a 34-year-old auto detailer, who kept the monkey illegally in his Palm Beach residence. Beekman had never secured the permit required by the state and had ignored the city's prohibition against owning primates. Authorities learned of Ringo after Beekman stopped on a sidewalk one day in 1996 to let Debra Brewster and her four-year-old daughter, Catherine, play with the young macaque. A short time later Brewster noticed a bite mark on Catherine's shoulder. A physician who treated the puncture wound recommended testing the monkey for disease. But because Beekman had no permit to keep Ringo, public health officials were unable to identify him. Then the officials played a hunch: A year earlier, Palm Beach paramedics had responded to a "911" call from an apartment dweller whose pet spider monkey was having seizures. A fire department rescue unit arrived to find the caller performing CPR on the tiny primate, but to no avail. From a photo, Brewster identified the man. It was James Beekman.

At first, Beekman denied owning Ringo, but then confessed after state wildlife investigators pieced together the truth: Beekman had bought the macaque from an exotic-animal dealer in Fort Lauderdale. Five days after the biting incident, Beekman finally turned Ringo over to state wildlife authorities. Three and a half weeks later, he was charged with five misdemeanor counts. Among the charges: secretly trying to resell the monkey to escape prosecution. During the five-day lag, health officials were left guessing about the type of monkey that had bitten Catherine and about its disease status. The girl had to undergo a series of tests and rabies shots, a regimen Beekman dismissed as an overreaction. Not only had he diapered the macaque and slept in the same bed and eaten off the same plate as the animal, he told the Palm Beach Post, but hundreds of people had held or kissed his pet with no adverse consequences.

Parrott was not quite so sanguine. After Ringo was deposited with her for safekeeping, she sent his blood off for testing. The macaque tested positive for herpes B. For five weeks, the Brewsters waited in anguish before they were assured Catherine wasn't infected. Later, Ringo was retested several times and the results proved negative. Parrott thinks he first tested positive because he was a baby then and had his infected mother's antibodies in his blood.

The primate trade -- much like the trade in exotic animals generally - is built on a succession of buyers like James Beekman, who often don't know what they're getting themselves into. It's a business filled with cruelties, primatologists say, that begin when a primate dealer removes a newborn monkey from its mother, who has given birth in captivity. The traumatized, days-old monkey is packed into a crate and hauled off to an auction or shipped by air to a customer who typically has no primate- care experience.

For some buyers, the tiny monkeys are a child substitute: They're christened, outfitted in baby clothes, and started on futile toilet-training regimens. For others, pet monkeys are status symbols, to be shown off in public and subjected to endless stress and thoughtless abuse.

Young monkeys are susceptible to measles, mumps, and other human diseases, and because adequate veterinary care is often difficult to find, many die. Within a couple of years, the monkeys usually undergo dramatic personality changes: They become unruly and destructive, which confuses and upsets their owners. They sometimes inflict life-threatening bites, so their teeth are extracted. They initiate troubling sexual displays, so the males are castrated and the females spayed. Many owners eventually stop having physical contact with their monkeys, leaving these social animals to spend the rest of their lives in the equivalent of solitary confinement. Others look for someone to take the animals off their hands.

Human-reared monkeys lack survival skills, which means they can't be returned to the wild. Zoos don't want them. Animal shelters aren't equipped to keep them. Sanctuaries are overrun with others like them. In many instances, the only willing takers are the exotic-animal dealers who fuel the often-illicit trade in the first place.

When the sources of primates for the pet trade are labs engaged in biomedical research, the public health implications are ominous. Such animals may carry other infectious diseases besides herpes B, including hepatitis and SIV, the HIV-like simian immunodeficiency virus, which can be passed to humans. Because of such health threats, the American Society of Primatologists in June 1998 came out against private ownership of primates for nonscientific or noneducational purposes. And the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians has recommended banning private ownership of primates and further sale of them as pets.

Despite these warnings, institutions continue to unload their unwanted primates. Even the nation's major primate research centers routinely turn over to sanctuaries or dealers animals that may endanger the public.

Consider New York University's Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates, which scooped up "surplus" zoo and circus chimpanzees in the late 1970s for hepatitis vaccine research and in the late 1980s for AIDS research.

In early 1995, NYU began planning to give away the lab, setting off a scramble for its 300 baboons, macaques, and other primates. About 50 of the chimps went to a huge California sanctuary that had a workforce largely composed of volunteers with no background in primate care. Another 15 chimps went to a sanctuary near Montreal. Quebec health authorities were troubled by the relocation and spent several futile months requesting copies of the animals' complete medical histories. The primates, which may have been infected with human hepatitis or HIV, wound up roaming an indoor-outdoor facility with few safety protocols. As with the California sanctuary, the chimps' care was largely entrusted to volunteers with little biosafety training.

In mid-1997, Emory University's Yerkes primate center sought to dispose of 40 sooty mangabeys -- monkeys native to West Africa -- infected with SIVsm, a strain isolated from sootys. SIVsm is a close relative of HIV type 2 (HIV-2), which can cause AIDS in humans. SIVsm has been shown to be directly transmissible to other species, and there is widespread speculation that this simian virus evolved into HIV-2 after jumping the "species barrier" to infect humans. Some scientists suspect this cross-transmission occurred when West Africans butchered and ate infected monkeys.

In 1992, the CDC reported that two U.S. laboratory workers -- including one who had handled blood specimens without gloves -- had developed antibodies to SIV. So far, the humans infected with SIVsm (at least five have now been identified in the United States) and another retrovirus called simian foamy virus have suffered no adverse health consequences, nor have their sexual partners been infected. But these monkey viruses are not thoroughly understood. There is some concern that they may mutate and, like HIV-1 (which is responsible for the global AIDS epidemic), spread between people.

The Yerkes staff members charged with finding a new home for their infected mangabeys were repeatedly frustrated. Two primate facilities in Texas declined, expressing worries about the animals' health status. Finally, in late 1998, Yerkes worked out an agreement with Wild Animal Orphanage, a large private sanctuary in San Antonio. Officials of the Texas Department of Health learned of the arrangement only after receiving an anonymous tip.

Because the sanctuary is open to the public, they worried that visitors might be put in jeopardy. Carol Asvestas, who operates the sanctuary with her husband, Ron, tried to quell officials' fears by spelling out the specifics of the deal: Yerkes had agreed to finance the construction of a building to house the mangabeys; the building would be on land outside the city limits; and the research center had agreed to train the sanctuary's two permanent employees, Carol Asvestas, and any future staff in Biosafety Level 2 protocols.

But the proposed transfer of the mangabeys raises some troubling questions. What happens if, in 5, 10, or 15 years, the sanctuary -- a nonprofit organization that solicits donations -- cannot raise enough money to stay in operation? Who will take responsibility for the infected mangabeys if they outlive the sanctuary operators, or if the place is closed?

There is another cause for concern: The Asvestases have a poor track record for security. In April 1997, an intruder's hand was mangled by a tiger when he and an accomplice broke into the sanctuary, possibly to steal a cougar. A month earlier, a tiger escaped from its cage, apparently after someone tampered with the door. And, in late 1997, a capuchin monkey escaped from its cage. Earlier this year, the Asvestases were charged with violating the Animal Welfare Act for failing to "maintain structurally sound housing facilities for nonhuman primates in good repair so as to protect the animals from injury, to contain the animals securely, and to restrict the entrance of other animals." They settled the case last August by agreeing to pay a $1,000 fine and spend $10,000 to repair cages.

More than 60 years after herpesvirus simiae was identified, little is known about the macaque-borne virus. What's certain is that rhesus, Japanese, pig-tailed, and virtually every other macaque species (there are more than a dozen) carry herpes B. There are other troubling aspects of the virus, which, according to medical literature, has killed about 20 people in the United States. A definitive diagnosis requires a test that only a few laboratories in the world can perform. What's more, monkey owners often don't report bites or scratches out of fear that their pets might be confiscated, so some of the numerous deaths caused by influenzalike or viral encephalitis symptoms may in fact be attributable to herpes B. Finally, it's possible that infected individuals may suffer only mild initial symptoms and that the virus may emerge later, long after the moment of exposure. If someone were to die from the virus, who would suspect a monkey-borne disease? "If no one is performing up-front testing for zoonotic diseases," says Dr. Stephanie Ostrowski of the CDC, referring to diseases that can be passed from animals to humans, "then it's not a question of whether there's going to be a disastrous incident, but when."

Given the threat herpes B poses, it seems reasonable to expect that zoos, biomedical researchers, and others who house, use, and display macaques take uncompromising precautions to ensure that these animals never leave institutional control. But in fact, during the past decade, many of these institutions, concerned about the liabilities associated with harboring B-virus-infected macaques, rushed en masse to get rid of them.

The official records of curators from zoos accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) show the distribution routes of potentially deadly primates:

>From the Columbus Zoo: 11 Japanese macaques to Jim Fouts, a Kansas dealer who has sold surplus animals at auction.

>From the Buffalo Zoo: Japanese macaques to Edward Novack, a New York dealer whose exotics are sold to breeders or advertised for sale in Animal Finders' Guide, a magazine that caters to the private pet trade.

>From the Cincinnati Zoo, the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, and the Burnet Park Zoo in Syracuse: Japanese macaques to Northland Wildlife, a Minnesota-based animal dealer whose owner pleaded guilty in 1993 to a federal charge of illegally selling monkeys.

>From the Los Angeles Zoo: Celebes macaques to Texas dealer Buddy Jordan, who sells animals at auctions, to private individuals, and to so-called sanctuaries that breed primates for the pet trade.

>From Bucknell University: seven Japanese macaques from the university's laboratories to Animal Kingdom Zoo, in New Jersey, a privately run menagerie that doubles as a primate dealer.

And remarkably, from the California Regional Primate Research Center, an NIH-funded research center: eight Japanese macaques to Thomas Nichols, of Georgia, a well-known primate trafficker who was later indicted by the federal government for unlawfully importing and selling monkeys and was sentenced to a year in jail.

The dumping of zoo macaques has been so rampant that hundreds have seemingly vanished from institutions accredited by the AZA. In a landmark study, Ostrowski reviewed primate-transfer patterns from AZA institutions and documented about 200 Japanese macaques that are now -- in zoo terminology -- "lost to follow-up," along with 200 black macaques, 17 lion-tailed macaques, and other species of macaques for which there are no official records.

The pet trade is now teeming with macaques. They're for sale at exotic-animal auctions. They're moving from roadside menageries to dealers, and from there to private homes. Macaques are even being crossbred with other macaque species, creating hybrids whose capacities for B virus and SIV infections are unknown. In a recent issue of Animal Finders' Guide, five advertisers offered macaques, including a South Florida broker, and a Wisconsin dealer with pregnant snow macaques. This commerce in the potentially deadly monkeys has spooked public health officials, who have seen a rise in macaque bites. In a recent 10-month period, 13 such bites were reported to the Arizona Department of Health Services. None of the victims was infected.

Ringo is still a baby, but in two years, Parrott says, he'll be a full-grown male with big teeth and a surly attitude. Many macaques in private hands are about that same age, having come into popularity as pets only recently. Age brings on not only aggressiveness but sexual activity -- which experts believe triggers the shedding of herpes B. Many older, more aggressive, infected macaques coming into contact with greater numbers of unsuspecting humans is particularly troubling to Parrott and some of her colleagues. They're convinced that this will lead to more cases of herpes B.

The CDC could slow the private trade in macaques by enforcing the foreign quarantine regulations of the Public Health Service Act, which has prohibited the redistribution of imported primates and their progeny to the pet trade since 1975. But so far the CDC has not enforced those regulations.

In the Miami area, Parrott has seen macaques become especially popular with Latino families. "They're the ones I'm worried about," she says, "because, like many other pet owners, they have no education about what they've got."

James Beekman wanted his pet macaque back. so on April 23, 1998, he headed for the judicial complex in downtown Palm Beach to face the charges against him. In the end, he negotiated a plea bargain. Beekman not only pleaded guilty on three charges, he also agreed to forfeit his monkey and pay about $3,000 in court fees and restitution, including $500 for Catherine Brewster's medical bills. In addition, he was placed on probation for two years. Not long afterward, Ringo also got a reprieve. Parrott and her co-workers decided to adopt the young macaque.

Beekman earned his own form of absolution: A Florida fish and game officer agreed not to oppose Beekman's new wildlife-possession application. If, after three years, he has met the terms of the plea arrangement, Beekman -- like a growing number of macaque owners -- will be free to sleep with and eat off the same plate as a monkey, and expose himself and others to a killer virus.

Adapted from Animal Underworld: Inside America's Black Market for Rare and Exotic Species.

AAP NEWSFEED
September 16, 1999, Thursday

TOKYO AP - Japanese city dwellers haven't seen the last of their simian woes: A monkey escaped from a pet shop over the weekend and sank its teeth into two young bicycle riders.

In August, it was a sybaritic macaque that lived it up for weeks in an upscale Tokyo neighborrhood. A month before that, a fugitive primate kidnapped pets and terrorised toddlers in Osaka.

The monkey caught last month in Tokyo eluded police for weeks before it was caught by a swimming pool attendant at a social club for Americans. The Osaka monkey became such a menace that police warned parents to keep their kids at home. Eventually, police say, it apparently returned to the hills that were its home.

The latest fugitive monkey was for sale at the "Who and Me" pet shop in Kawasaki, just south of Tokyo, when it saw its chance Saturday: Shopkeepers placed it outside to clean its cage.

Police caught the monkey the following day - but not before it had wrought some havoc.

The first victim was a 10-year-old boy riding his bike near the shop, said police spokesman Noboru Asaoka. The monkey sprang from behind and bit the boy's leg, causing a wound that newspapers say won't heal for two weeks.

It then turned its sights on an 8-year-old girl, also riding her bicycle. Again it attacked from behind, clawing the girl's back and right arm.

The monkey - a species of macaque common in Japan - was spotted loitering outside the local post office Sunday and apprehended by police with the help of its owner.

Monkeys have long infuriated farmers in rural Japan, where they damage crops, swipe food and bite humans.

But recently simian demographics have mirrored those of humans, as tribes of wild monkeys desert the countryside to raid well-stocked grocery stores in urban areas.

Monkey captured after attacking 2 Kawasaki children
09-13-1999
Kyodo World News Service

YOKOHAMA, Sept. 13 (Kyodo) -- A monkey that escaped from a pet store and attacked two children over the weekend was captured Monday in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, police officials said.

The officials said the primate was a 5-year-old, male Japanese monkey standing about 70 centimeters tall. It had escaped from its steel cage in Asao Ward, Kawasaki, on Saturday morning.

The monkey reportedly bit a 10-year-old boy's left leg in Tama Ward shortly after noon Saturday morning and attacked an 8-year-old girl on a bicycle in Asao Ward on Sunday afternoon, slightly injuring her.

A group of people, including police officers, captured the primate in the front yard of a private residence in Asao Ward on Monday morning. Police said they were questioning the monkey's owner.

The News-Press (Fort Myers, FL)
August 19, 1999 Thursday
Monkey killing angers owner

BY: Matt Whitehead, Staff

Pet euthanized after it bit woman

By MATT WHITEHEAD The News-Press

CAPE CORAL - A man is accusing the Lee County Animal Shelter of unfairly euthanizing his monkey Tuesday after it bit a home health worker on the leg last week.

Richard Zaunere, 64, said one of the two white-faced capuchin monkeys he kept at his home at 718 S.E. 10th Place was destroyed by the animal shelter after the woman who was bitten refused to get precautionary rabies shots.

"This is unfair. This is not right," Zaunere said. "I begged them for more time to prove the animal didn't have rabies, but they wouldn't listen. It's completely frustrating. A small creature trusted me with its life, and I failed it."

Judy Glock reportedly was bitten last Thursday when she went to Zaunere's home to tend to his roommate, Larry Petterson, who had broken his leg. Glock could not be reached for comment.

"I keep the male monkey in a cage in the living room and I was keeping the female monkey in the bedroom," Zaunere said. "When the nurse came over, I had forgotten about the female that was in the bedroom. Well, when the nurse walked by the male's cage, he let out a shriek and the female monkey heard this and ran over and jumped on the nurse's leg."

The two monkeys were confiscated by the animal shelter Friday after Glock visited her doctor to check the bite mark.

Pamela Hodgens, animal services director at the shelter, said the animals were removed from the home because Zaunere did not have a permit through the Florida Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to keep the monkeys.

"Any time a person is bitten by an animal, the doctor is required by law to inform us and we have to look into the situation," Hodgens said. "When we went over to investigate, we learned that he didn't have any permits to keep the monkeys at his home, so we had to take them to the shelter."

Hodgens said the animal was euthanized after the woman decided not to be treated for rabies.

"If it had just been a case of him not having the paperwork, none of this would have happened. But because this one was a bite case, it had to be handled different," she said.

"The victim went to an infectious disease control doctor, and he advised her not to go through the shots unless the animal turned up positive for rabies," she said. "That left us no choice but to have the animal put down and have it tested, which is what we did."

Results on the rabies test should be available as early as today.

The male monkey is being kept at a Cape Coral residence whose owner has a license to keep monkeys because the Lee County Animal Shelter is not equipped to handle exotic animals.

Zaunere said he visits his monkey every day to feed him. He has applied for a license.

"I hadn't applied for a license before because I was moving back and forth from my other home in New Hampshire. But now I'm living here permanently, and I've already applied for the license.

"This is terrible. I never let either of the monkeys outside, and they didn't have rabies, but they wouldn't listen to me," he said.

"The monkey was like a little old lady. She never hurt anyone and was so sweet. But there was nothing I could do. I cried, I protested, but it didn't do any good." - Matt Whitehead can be reached at 945-3555.

Omaha World Herald (Nebraska)
August 5, 1999, Thursday METRO EDITION
Officer Bitten By Monkey

BY: Jeremy Olson

BELLEVUE - Blood tests were sent to a specialist in California to determine whether a monkey that bit a Bellevue police officer is carrying any serious or even fatal diseases.

Bellevue Officer Robert Bailey was conducting interviews in a home in southeast Omaha, following up on a Bellevue burglary at 3 a.m. Tuesday, when a monkey bit him in the leg.

Animal control officers from the Nebraska Humane Society were called to the scene. The owner of the monkey helped lure it into a cage so it could be taken away for observation.

Doug Armstrong, a veterinarian from Henry Doorly Zoo, drew blood from the monkey, and other zoo experts helped identify the animal. The type of monkey, a macaque, has been known to carry serious viruses and diseases.

Bellevue Deputy Chief John Stacey Jr. said Bailey was taken to a hospital after the biting near 25th and Washington Streets in Omaha. Bailey returned to work Wednesday night, Stacey said.

The monkey had a history of biting people, said Dave Schlotman, Nebraska Humane Society director of field operations. The monkey remained in the custody of the Humane Society.

The owner of the monkey was issued tickets for owning a dangerous animal, harboring a nonpet and owning three unlicensed dogs.

The Capital (Annapolis, MD.)
4 August 1999, Wednesday
Monkey pets may be banned
By JESSICA S. BUEL, Staff Writer

Though they might not be man's best friend, many primates still pass for pets in Maryland.

But with one county animal's recent attacks being treated as more than mere monkey business, veterinarians in the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene are working on proposing legislation that would ban animal lovers from owning primates.

The call for legislation follows the seizure of a Glen Burnie pet monkey named Jamie, who was accused of biting seven people. But veterinarians say their proposal, which is in its early stages, doesn't stem from his case.

"Over the past few months, we started to look at what other states are doing," said Dr. Beth Karp of the state's Center for Veterinary Public Health.

Dr. Karp said the state's primary concern is the transmission of disease. The physiological similarities between monkeys and humans means there are many diseases, which the two species can share, Dr. Karp said.

The herpes B virus is common in certain types of monkeys, while tuberculosis and viruses that attack the immune system also can be transmitted from monkeys to humans. Meanwhile, monkeys also can catch certain human diseases, said Dr. Clifford Johnson, state public health veterinarian.

"If we get theirs, it could be deadly to us, and if we give a disease to them, it could be deadly to them," Dr. Johnson said.

Dr. Michael Cranfield, head veterinarian for the Baltimore Zoo, said disease is just one of the reasons he believes monkeys make bad pets. Many die in domestic captivity, he said.

"In the past, it was for conservation reasons," Dr. Cranfield said. "Many monkeys were imported from South America. It was a one way street from the jungle to the garbage can."

When the federal government outlawed importing primates as pets in 1975, breeding began to thrive in places such as Ohio and Florida, he said.

Today, Dr. Cranfield said the spread of disease, aggressive behavior that develops with age and the inability of owners to give monkeys the amount of attention they need are key in his decision to become involved with the legislation.

But while some former monkey owners agree with Dr. Cranfield that many owners don't know what it takes to keep a monkey, they oppose legislation to make ownership illegal.

"Knowing what I know today, I could say I believe no one should own a primate without knowing what's involved in caring for it, what they're getting themselves into," said Stephen Ritterspach, the Glen Burnie resident who owns Jamie. "I understand it's a public safety issue. But I think you have the right to own it, even if it's an alligator."

Orlando Sentinel (Florida)
July 31, 1999 Saturday, CENTRAL FLORIDA
CALL HIM 'FURIOUS GEORGE';
MONKEY'S ESCAPE IS A BARREL OF TROUBLE

BY: By Lenny Savino of The Sentinel Staff

KISSIMMEE - Arron Court looked like a scene from Ace Ventura: Pet Detective Friday morning as six Kissimmee police officers tracked down an escaped monkey.

The hunt for "Forrest," the brown and gray primate, began after he nimbly untied the rope holding his cage door shut behind an Arron Court home in the Mill Run area.

Forrest first headed for an open garage at the end of the court, where Allen Horsley, 13, was playing.

"He jumped on my leg," Allen said.

"I tried to kick him away, and he scratched me."

Somebody called 911.

"When I pulled up, he jumped on my windshield," said Officer Scott Morris, smiling.

"He was running all over the place. On the cars. In the street. Everywhere."

Officer Charles Chattin, who has a pet ferret, tried the nice guy approach.

"One of the guys handed me a banana," he said. "The monkey jumped up on my arm, and I fed it to him. Everything was going fine until Marnee got here."

Marnee Allen is another officer. When she got out of her police car, Chattin said, Forrest jumped off his arm and bit Allen. Then he pulled Officer Denise Farmer's hair and took off across the court. The officers gave chase.

"I hope nobody is videotaping this," someone said on his police radio.

Chattin said he understood why the monkey ran.

"He just wanted to know what we were doing," he said.

Forrest spotted Sgt. Greg Stephens, who was now directing the action.

"That's when he violated the sergeant's leg," Chattin said.

Morris positioned himself between the screen door and front door of the Horsley house and beckoned for Forrest to come. He took the bait. Morris slammed the screen door shut and the perplexed ape was trapped.

Five officers stood guard as two animal control officers arrived with "catch poles" in hand.

"Watch out," Stephens said. "If he gets out, I'm heading straight that way."

"Forrest. You're under arrest," Chattin said. "Don't try to escape."

Forrest's head was caught in one of the pole's lassos. Officer Allen was treated for her monkey bite and released. She returned to work Friday.

The media arrived. Looking like a famous criminal, Forrest was escorted to an Animal Control truck while the cameras flashed.

"He'll be quarantined for 10 days for biting one of the officers," said Animal Control Officer Wally Collins.

"If he doesn't show any signs of rabies, he'll probably be released back to his owner if he has a permit for him."

If Forrest's owner has no permit, officials said, he will likely be given to JungleLand or another theme park where he can be cared for properly.

After Forrest was driven away, animal control officers tried to find his owner, who was not home.

As a precaution against hepatitis and other diseases, animal control officials recommended blood tests for those who came into contact with Forrest.

Looking at a photograph of the primate, JungleLand Curator Michael Sapper said Forrest was probably a capuchin monkey indigenous to the jungles of South America.

"They're the most common monkeys used as pets," Sapper said. "They're frequently called organ-grinder monkeys."

THE BALTIMORE SUN
July 15, 1999, Thursday ,HOWARD

Panel backs decision to remove pet monkey; Arundel animal control took macaque from couple after attacks on people

BY: TaNoah Morgan

A pet monkey accused of biting or scratching more than a half-dozen people over two years will have to remain at the Howard County refuge where it has been since spring.

After hearing seven hours of testimony yesterday, the Anne Arundel County Animal Control Commission, a seven-member administrative review panel, decided that animal control officers were right to take Jamie, a 2-year-old Bonnett macaque, from owners Steven and Kimberly Ritterspach of Glen Burnie after the animal was involved in a barroom brawl in April.

The six commission members at yesterday's hearing said animal control administrator Tahira Shane Thomas will have to decide where the monkey will be placed permanently and whether the owners will be allowed to visit. The Ritterspachs, who have come to regard the monkey as the child they could not have, said they planned to appeal.

"I'm not giving up at this point," said Steven Ritterspach, 45, owner of a used-car dealership. " We've spent enough now for three monkeys. But that's not what this is about -- it's about the bond that was between us."

Ritterspach said the couple had spent $13,000 in lawyer fees to try to get Jamie back.

He said that during the daylong hearing, he tried to assure the panel with a tearful plea that he would not allow Jamie to be a danger again.

"Jamie wasn't at fault in any of this. It was us," he said. Since then, "we talked about keeping Jamie confined to the home. He would have to be ours, and that's it, and not be allowed to be shared with anybody else."
Members of the commission indicated that the family might get another chance at caring for the animal by talking to Thomas and persuading her to change her mind, but Thomas said: " That's not going to be one of my considerations. I do not feel that returning the monkey is the appropriate thing to do for public safety."

Thomas said she would talk with the manager of the primate center in Howard County, to see if the animal could stay there permanently.

Animal control took custody of Jamie after the monkey bit a woman in the lip at the Speak-Easy-Inn in Glen Burnie, touching off a brawl in which two more people were attacked, according to police records. The agency had on file instances of four people who had been bitten or scratched by the 9-pound animal.

Before the April 2 melee, animal control officials had labeled Jamie dangerous and prohibited the Ritterspachs from taking it out in public. Officers had fined Steven Ritterspach twice because he had taken the animal out in public.

After the fight, Thomas decided to take the monkey from the couple and fine them again, bringing their total penalty to $850. They have not paid the fines, officials said.

Eleven people have reported having been bitten or scratched by the animal, although four of those reports have not been confirmed, Thomas said.

If the Ritterspachs appeal the decision, the case would be heard before the county board of appeals.
The Japan Times
June 10, 1999, Thursday
Monkey fanciers share joys, woes on the Internet
By JOEL DAMES

SEATTLE - "I have two capuchin monkeys I must sell due to losing our home," posts Deborah from Ohio on The Primate Care Site. "One is a black cap female 7 years old, ready to breed. She is very calm and loves to clean your finger nails. She eats from a spoon and loves to look at books. She loves to be picked up and held, except when she is going through her cycle. I love her and hold her and walk around with her.

"The other monkey is a 5-year-old male white face. He is handable, lovable and he loves to take a shower." Owners and activists from around the world post e-mails like Debra's, exchanging information and views. Virtually all agree on keeping more than one monkey. In forests and jungles monkeys live in large social groups, learning much of their behavior from other members of the group. They learn to give and take and to fit into the group's social
order. For the first five years or so they are dependent on the mother and sometimes the father as well.

Dave and two friends in South Africa formed the Vervet Monkey Rehabilitation Center, where they keep over 200 vervet monkeys.

In Washington state, CJ converted a bedroom into a playroom for her six primates with swings and bars. At night she keeps them in large indoor cages and, weather permitting, during the day they share a large outside enclosure. Depending on the monkey, they also are allowed access to other parts of her home.

Activists would point out that even a situation like CJ's comes nowhere close to simulating a natural primate environment. Primates are equipped with long, loose, muscular limbs and sharp teeth, designed for arboreal life in forests and jungles. Domestic living robs them of their freedom and bores and frustrates them.

Cute, cuddly, dependent babies tempt potential owners into adopting. Reality sets in when the pet grows sharp teeth and starts behaving like a nonhuman primate, chewing on everything in sight and biting even young children.

Lynn, who lives in south Florida with 17-month-old tamarin Max and a 10-month-old capuchin, says both are the "apples of my eye," but "anyone who says to me, 'I want a monkey, they are so cute,' I always say to them, 'Yes, they are wonderful, but do you like 2-year-olds?' Monkeys are 2 emotionally the rest of their lives and if you don't like temper tantrums and having to say 'no' a lot, then a monkey is not for you. Me, I LOVE 2-year-olds! Always have."

Unlike 2-year-olds, they can't be toilet trained, yet are intelligent enough to take off their diapers. This can mean 20 to 30 vacationless years of mopping urine daily (sometimes diarrhea) and cleaning and disinfecting smelly homes. Since many monkeys live 26 to 30 years, owners need to consider including them in their will unless they find someone committed to caring for them.

Most owners say it's worth all the trouble. "Last night, my 7-month-old male macaque groomed me for the first time," writes another owner. "That just made all the diaper changing, middle-of-the-night feeding, bite marks in everything and lack of sleep worthwhile."

Dave of Vervet Monkey Rehabilitation Center, sees it differently. "For Americans to allow these animals to be kept as pets, and then direct the rest of the world to respect wildlife and habitat in their countries is a little misguided. I do not think monkeys are evolved to be pets; they are evolved to be monkeys; not humans, which for the most part is what owners are shooting for it seems to me. Their mail and photos of them diapered and clothed gives that away."

In Japan, activist Yumiko Ohba cannot afford to offer blunt advice and maintain the respect of primate owners. She says Japan imports about 4,000 to 5,000 monkeys a year; about 25 percent go to the pet market. Sellers tell customers, "You can feed them dog food; they make nice pets; they don't have diseases."

Many owners know little about primate care and keep them in small cages. These monkeys develop psychological and physical illnesses and often die in a few years. Through her Web site, Ohba offers information on care and diseases and answers all questions through e-mail, postal mail, fax or telephone at no cost to the owner or vet.

Activists and owners advise potential owners to first get some hands-on experience by volunteering at a zoo or babysitting for an owner. They should also do lots of research.

This may avoid awakenings like the one Martin Kjellberg of Sweden experienced May 23. "I have two common marmosets, and this morning when I gave the food I recognized they had babies. I had suspected that the female was pregnant, and now I know. And now I wonder if anybody knows if they receive some special diet, or any tips that make my monkeys happier?"

Yumiko Ohba, chairwoman of Pet-Monkey Lab, tel./fax (047) 461-6368, staff@monkey.org or www.pet.monkey.org

June 23, 1999 Wednesday, Final Chaser
MONKEYS IN MIDDLE OF DISPUTE; MESA NEIGHBORS SCRAP ABOUT PRIMATE PETS' CONDUCT
By Robbie Sherwood, The Arizona Republic

If a child gets out of the house, climbs into the neighbor's yard and defecates on the pool deck, there's a good chance the law will get involved.

If the trespasser is a monkey, however, there's not much a neighbor can do about it. Not in Mesa, which has no ordinance dealing with the estimated 300 to 500 primate pets living in the city.

Diane Heinz is pushing the City Council to change that.

Heinz and her husband, Larry, have waged a yearlong skirmish with back-fence neighbor Elaina Werns, over Werns' four macaques and her capuchin. The monkeys terrorize the Heinzes and their dog during escapes from backyard cages, the couple contend, and the monkeys stink up the area the rest of the time.

"(Werns) calls them her children, but we've had monkeys spit at us, we've had poop thrown at us, and the sexual gestures are real fun," Heinz said. "We have ordinances for a 2-pound poodle, but no law saying monkeys can't be at large."

Heinz said there have been many monkey escapes over the past two years, and she took pictures of an escaped monkey June 2 that allegedly lunged at her husband. Animal control officers tranquilized the monkey and returned it to Werns.

Werns said that escape, and another in November when a friend's monkey ran away for about 10 minutes, are the only times in two years that monkeys have gotten loose.

"(Heinz) is just anti-monkey," said Werns, 33. "She is making slanderish remarks because it only happened two times, and mine was let out by somebody; we're trying to find out who."

After Heinz spoke at Monday's Mesa City Council meeting about the danger at her home and the diseases that monkeys can carry, Mayor Wayne Brown sympathized with her situation. The council will study a possible ordinance next Wednesday. Council member Dennis Kavanaugh, though, is not ready to create a law for a problem that is actually quite rare in Mesa.

"I don't think the answer is an outright ban where you penalize the other hundreds of pet owners whose monkeys aren't creating any harm," Kavanaugh said. "I've heard of more pigeon cases than monkey cases."

Before Heinz and Werns went at it, Mesa had fewer than 10 monkey calls in the past decade, said Diane Brady, animal control specialist.

Kavanaugh said the Heinzes' best recourse lies in the courts, where they have, in fact, found success.

After responding to several complaints about odors, an animal control officer cited Werns for the unsanitary condition of her backyard cages. The cages sit nearly 70 feet from Werns' home, but nearly abut the Heinzes' fence, putting them much closer to the neighbor's house than the owner's.

On June 14, a city court judge convicted Werns on the basis of the smell. A city prosecutor is pushing for permanent removal of the monkeys, and the judge will hand down a sentence June 29.

Werns said she has changed disinfectants and cleans her cages every day. She also said she wanted to build the kennels closer to her home but city ordinances prohibit it.

Arizona once outlawed most primates, but in 1989 the law changed. Now, only chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans are banned. The state's top veterinarian, who testified against Werns in city court, is pushing the state Game and Fish Department for tougher rules.

Most macaques can carry the Herpes B virus, which is usually fatal when contracted by humans, and other diseases, said Dr. Myra Leslie, a state veterinarian.

Leslie said many monkey owners are ill prepared to take care of the animals because docile and friendly baby monkeys rarely stay that way.

"They are a danger both physically and disease-wise," Leslie said. "When they become sexually mature and adult, they become so dangerous that they have to be caged all the time and even owners can't handle them."

Werns disagrees strongly with Leslie's stance. Although Herpes B is fatal in humans 70 percent of the time, there have only been 40 cases of monkey-to-human transmission in the United States since 1933.

"And all of those were laboratory monkeys," Werns said. "We don't think it's fair to classify private monkeys with lab monkeys."

Game and Fish is looking into banning the sale of baby monkeys and requiring all current primate residents to be tested for diseases, said Game and Fish mammalogist Bill Van Pelt. A series of five public hearings to be held around the state will kick off in August.

Werns has owned monkeys for seven years and said it has been a lifelong dream.

"I can't have kids, so these are my kids," she said. Heinz said Werns' "kids" have her packing a fire extinguisher for self protection when she walks in her back yard.

"It's not my goal to get rid of every monkey in the world," Heinz said. "I just want my back yard back. The city owes me that right, and (Werns) owes me that respect."

Chicago Tribune
May 2, 1999 Sunday, CHICAGOLAND FINAL EDITION
EVEN DEDICATED MONKEY OWNERS THROW IN THE TOWEL

BY: By Steve Dale, Tribune Media Services.

Q--I've always been an animal lover, and I've shared my life with birds, hamsters, guinea pigs, cats and dogs. My dream is to have a pet monkey. I saw the capuchin monkey on (the TV sitcom) "Friends," and I'd like to know more about them. Are they trainable? Can they be taught to use a toilet?

-- B.S., Metamora, Ill.

A--Dogs and cats are domesticated, monkeys are not. Living with a monkey would be like sharing your life with a hyperactive, out-of-control 2-year-old who never grows up. Jay Petersen, primate collection manager at Brookfield Zoo, has hands-on monkey handling experience. He says monkeys have boundless energy, and unless you keep a monkey in a cage -- a cage with climbing space -- the animal will literally climb the walls knocking over lamps, books and breakables in the process.

Leaving a monkey in a room without supervision is also dangerous to the monkey, which can strangle itself on a Venetian blind cord, bite into an electrical cord, or turn an oven burner on and start a fire.

Despite monkeys' intelligence and anatomy, both seemingly favorable to toilet training, it's not an easy task. Dogs and cats are predisposed to "do their business" in the same place, while monkeys are not. Monkeys naturally "go" whenever and wherever the spirit moves them. What's more, dogs -- and even cats -- are hard wired to please people. Monkeys could not care less.

Petersen guesses 99 of 100 dedicated monkey owners wind up giving away their primate. "They're just too much to handle," he says.

Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Florida)
April 16, 1999, Friday, ENGLEWOOD, VENICE EDITIONS
Policeman kills monkey that scared park residents

BY: James Roland STAFF WRITER

Punta Gorda, FL - The end came loudly and quickly for a rhesus monkey that had both amused and terrorized residents of a mobile home park and eluded authorities in Punta Gorda.

Punta Gorda police Officer Charles Caruso shot and killed the monkey in Punta Gorda Isles at about 9 a.m. Thursday, after Charlotte County Animal Control Director Keith Larson reluctantly decided the animal had to be destroyed.

"That was probably one of the most difficult decisions I've ever had to make," Larson said. "I had to weigh the decision. Which was more important, the monkey or public safety?"

Larson said it was likely that the monkey was carrying a strain of herpes and hepatitis B. In addition, the monkey had been acting aggressively toward residents in the area and had already broken out of one cage.

The monkey's unusual adventure was first noted about a month ago in the Riverside Oaks mobile home park and surrounding areas near Alligator Creek, east of Interstate 75 on Jones Loop Road.

At first, some residents gave the monkey food. Later, the animal became more aggressive and charged after residents.

Riverside Oaks resident Sylvia Kuypers had taken to carrying a rake when she went outside, in case she needed to defend herself. Her husband, Norbert, was surprised at news of the monkey's slaying.

"It's a shame to see it shot," Norbert Kuypers said. "I don't think anyone over here will grieve, but I hate to see any animal shot like that."

The monkey had been trapped briefly, but broke out of the cage.

Larson said tranquilizing the monkey was ruled out because it would take time for the sedative to work and by then the animal would be lost.

After a few days without a reported sighting, Isles resident Sofia Travis saw the monkey eating oranges in a neighbor's tree on Colony Point Drive, about six miles away from the original sightings. She called the Punta Gorda Police Department, which sent officers to the scene.

Larson and another animal control officer also arrived at Colony Point, which is near Ponce de Leon Park. After consulting with Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission officers and public health officials, Larson decided to end the pursuit of the monkey.

"It had moved to a highly residential area," Larson said. "It represented a danger to the people in that area."

Delores Farkas, who lives a few houses from Travis, said she understood the decision to shoot the monkey.

"He was being very aggressive," Farkas said. "I think they did the right thing. We have a lot of little children in PGI these days."

Caruso used a 12-gauge shotgun to shoot the 2-foot-tall monkey, which had crossed the street to the mangroves along Colony Point Drive.

Larson said he didn't know where the monkey came from, but had heard suggestions that it came from Miami or might have been the pet of someone living near the area.

He added that one of his officers confirmed that the monkey he had encountered last week was the same monkey that was killed Thursday.

1999 Bristol United Press
Western Daily Press
3 March 1999

Monkey business; PET MARMOSETS TURN INTO HOME WRECKERS
By Edward Oldfield

THEY were quite literally just enjoying a bit of monkey business - but in the end their wild antics simply became too much for the Williams family.

Greg Williams had bought pet monkeys Josh and Cruella to cheer up his eight -year-old son Jordon after an operation on the boy's knee.

At first the family loved having the cute marmoset couple larking around their house in Bristol - until they started going bananas. The mischievous monkeys began hurling crockery and attacking anyone who came near them and took over the kitchen and conservatory as their den.

But yesterday was the final straw and they could take no more, having had their semi-detached home wrecked by the pair.

In the end they had to call in the RSPCA to evict the monkeys after the siege became so intense that the family had to send out for takeaway food rather than brave the bombardment to prepare a meal in the kitchen.

The creatures were eventually captured and exiled to the leafy Cricket St Thomas wildlife park near Chard, Somerset.

The monkey business began when Greg, aged 51, first bought seven-inch tall Josh for his son and gave him the run of their home in Hartcliffe.

He then decided the monkey might be lonely so they got him a mate named Cruella. The pair were initially well behaved and spent evenings perched on Jordon's shoulders watching television.

But as the days passed they bonded and became aggressive. They began attacking anyone who approached their home in an adapted conservatory, then moved into the kitchen and began smashing crockery.

Builder Greg suffered scratches and bite marks in one savage attack and his wife Pauline, 39, was left with cuts to her arms, legs and hands.

Greg said: "It was a nightmare. You had to duck in and out again in case they attacked. They would jump at you in a pincer movement and bite and scratch, the kitchen was a virtual no-go zone. There were a few times when we bought in a takeaway instead of going in there.

"The problems only began when we got Cruella to keep him company. They would sit and scream at you if you went into the conservatory and Pauline was unable to feed them a couple of times. They attacked her twice and the second time it was quite nasty, she got scratches and bites on her hands, arms and legs.

"I built them a giant cage in the conservatory and they completely took that over. Then in the last few days they were in the kitchen. They began smashing cups and plates. I had to call the RSPCA in the end because it was all getting too much and it wasn't fair to keep them caged all the time."

RSPCA inspector John Pollock said: "It was terrifying when we got to the house. We had our socks tucked into our trousers and wore protective hats. It was extremely difficult trying to catch them because they are so quick."

Animal behaviour expert Emma Magnus said when a male marmoset bonds with a female, they become very territorial. "These monkeys would just have been trying to defend what they thought was theirs. But they can give quite a nasty bite."

Family takes cover as monkey mayhem terrorises house
03-03-1999
The Daily Telegraph
By: Michael Fleet

A MONKEY which charmed a family with its antics turned into the pet from hell when they bought it a mate and the pair took over two rooms in the house.

From being a friend to eight-year-old Jordon Williams and his parents, the 18-month-old marmoset, Josh, turned into a scratching, biting aggressor which attacked anyone who entered its "territory".

In the end that included the kitchen of Jordon's family home in Hartcliffe, Bristol, where Josh and his new mate, Cruella, threw plates and cups and jumped at intruders.

Greg Williams, Jordon's father, said that before Cruella arrived, Josh had been a wonderful pet. "He would sit on your shoulder and watch television. But he turned into a nightmare," said Mr Williams, 51.

"You had to duck in and out in case they attacked. They would jump at you in a pincer movement and bite and scratch - the kitchen was a virtual no-go zone."

Mr Williams had bought the first monkey to cheer up Jordon after a knee operation. Feeling sorry for Josh not having a mate, they bought Cruella and the problems began.

For the first few days, both monkeys lived happily with the family but as they "bonded" they became aggressive and protective.

Mr Williams, a builder, suffered scratches and bites in one attack and his wife, Pauline, was left with cuts to her arms, legs and hands.

The monkeys lived in a large cage in the conservatory but it was thought cruel to keep them locked up and when they were given their freedom they went wild.

Mr Williams eventually rang the RSPCA for help and a team of officers took the monkeys away to a wildlife park, leaving the family to clean up the mess.

RSPCA inspector John Pollock said: "It was terrifying when we went to the house. We wore protective hats because we don't have to deal with monkeys very often."

The Tampa Tribune
16 January 1999, Saturday
Owner says pet monkey headed for new home after biting attack

DARLENE McCORMICK, of The Tampa Tribune

TOWN 'N COUNTRY - A peevish pet monkey bit its owner on the hand and leg, but rabies isn't a big concern.

Was it a case of Angel turned devil? Or raging hormones? Whatever her motive, the 6-year-old "organ-grinder monkey" named Angel went berserk, biting owner Phyllis Booth.

Bleeding and bewildered by the attack, Booth called the Hillsborough sheriff's office Wednesday morning as Angel leaped wildly around her home.

"She's generally a good monkey," said Lee Skowronski, Booth's son-in-law. "She came into season for the first time, so I guess it's PMS or something."

Booth, 69, was holding Angel about 8 a.m. when the capuchin monkey suddenly chomped her fingers. She tried to settle the monkey down, but Angel "kept on being mean."

"I can't understand her going so crazy," Booth said, adding the monkey had never bitten her before.

"Once she shook it off her hand . . . it bit her leg," said Deputy Ken Holtry, who answered the call for help at Three Lakes Mobile Home Community, 9800 Sheldon Road.

Holtry found the woman fending off more monkey business by holding a quilt in front of her. Angel, meantime, was screaming and tearing around the room.

Holtry got Booth outside. When state wildlife officer Dennis Parker arrived, the two went on a monkey hunt. They found the peevish primate hiding under a bed. Wearing heavy-duty gloves, Parker grabbed her little arms and delivered her safely back to her cage.

"She bit me a couple of times. She's just afraid right now," said Parker, who works for the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission.

Angel may have bitten her owner because she's reaching sexual maturity, he said. Primates will also bite when denied a favorite toy or treat. "The animal could be having a bad day, too," he added.

Booth said she had taken the monkey's teddy bear away for a wash, but that was routine. Angel had been kissing her and cuddling before the incident.

Primate bites are rare, Parker said. He responds to perhaps half a dozen a year in an 11-county region.

The animal will have to be quarantined, probably at home, for 14 days to make sure she does not have rabies, he said. But Booth probably doesn't have much to worry about.

The chances are "extremely rare," Parker said.

Booth, went to the doctor's office and received four stitches for an estimated 50 bites. She plans on finding Angel a new home, perhaps with a breeder.

Darlene McCormick covers law enforcement and can be reached at (813) 885-5437.

St. Petersburg Times
14 January 1999, Thursday, South Pinellas Edition
Moody pet monkey bites owner 50 times
By AMY HERDY

The Capuchin monkey, which has sharp canine teeth, likely attacked because it is entering puberty, an animal official says.

Phyllis Booth was enjoying some cuddle time with her 6-year-old Capuchin monkey Wednesday morning when Angel's mood suddenly turned bad.

"She was kissing me and hugging me, and then she got a little rough nipping my chin," said Booth, a 69-year-old great-grandmother and retired beautician. When Booth tried to send Angel back to her cage, the 2 1/2-foot-tall monkey didn't take it well.

"She got mad," Booth said. "She started biting me and wouldn't let loose."

Fifty bites later, sheriff's deputies and a state wildlife officer responded to Booth's home in the Three Lakes Mobile Home Park off Sheldon Road to capture the still-rampaging monkey and help Booth.

Capuchin monkeys, the friendly imps that accompany organ grinders, become unpredictable and grow sharp canine teeth as they mature, said Dennis Parker, an officer with the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission. When Capuchins bite, Parker said, it's in rapid succession.

"Like a sewing machine needle, they go up and down the arm, from the fingers to the shoulders." Although not seriously injured, Booth had bites to both hands, arms and her right leg, and she required stitches on her right knee. Because Booth had a permit for the monkey, Parker checked on Angel's living conditions and then left her securely confined in a cage in Booth's home. He also speculated on the cause for the attack: Angel has entered puberty.

"Just like a teenager, they get more testy with people, and aggressive," he said.

By Wednesday afternoon, a stitched-up and bandaged Booth sat in her living room and warily eyed the monkey she had raised from a baby. While Angel squeaked, chattered and picked imaginary bugs from her fur, Booth pondered her pet's fate.

"I don't understand it," she said. "She likes me so well. Why would she turn on me for no reason?" Angel had become grumpy the night before, Booth said, and turned up her delicate, sloping nose to offerings of mixed fruit, bananas and even potato chips. "She wasn't satisfied with anything," she said. "When I went to feed her, she would grab my finger and pinch."

By 8 a.m. Wednesday, Angel's mood worsened, and after biting Booth's fingers, she sat and glared while Booth called her brother for help.

"She was showing her teeth, making faces at me," she said. "I was panicky." The bites were so deep, she said, that blood ran down the phone and over the counter while she made the call. "I was in shock," she said. "I couldn't believe she would do anything like that." Suddenly, Angel attacked again, grabbing Booth's leg and biting hard before working her way along both arms.

Booth called 911 and later went to a doctor. Parker and a sheriff's deputy donned heavy gloves and threw a blanket over the screaming Angel. The monkey was terrified, he said, but not hurt. Most Capuchin owners have the monkeys' canine teeth removed, Parker said, for the very reason Booth encountered. Yet after the attack, Booth said, she didn't think she wanted to keep Angel. "I'd want to sell her to some place that would breed her," she said, "if that's what causing this problem."

The Associated Press State & Local Wire
October 4, 1998, Sunday, BC cycle

Model's love of monkeys turns into painful lesson

BY: By GILDA PERKINS, The Sentry-News

SLIDELL, La. - Two years ago the only monkeys Michelle Germain knew about were in a zoo. Then she bought Rico, a Vervet monkey who so savagely attacked her legs that it threatens her career in swimsuit modeling.

When a friend asked her to baby sit her monkeys, Michelle agreed. This was her first experience with monkeys. "When she took them to her mothers instead I was stuck with a big empty cage so I decided to get a monkey of my own," she said.

An ad for a three week old female Marmaset caught her eye. She named it Bongo, fell in love with the monkey as a pet, a year later she bought a male and soon after they had three babies.

"My monkeys rode on my shoulder and hid in my hair when we went out," Germain said. "I loved my monkeys."

Soon after she added four Tamarin monkeys to her collection but still wanted one large enough to dress in baby clothes.

"A man in Wisconsin was selling Rico, a three-year-old Vervet monkey advertised as tame, bottle fed, leash trained and wearing clothes," she said.

Checking out the breed in books from the library, she made the deal with an assurance that the monkey was sweet and had never bitten anyone.

She agreed to pay $ 1,400 for Rico, who was delivered in a small cat carrier while she was on a Hawaiian Tropic swimsuit photo shoot in Florida. A friend who breeds monkeys picked him up at the airport for her and brought him to the motel where they were staying.

"My friend was concerned that Rico kept charging the door of the cage but I thought it was not used to being confined," she said. In the motel room he seemed friendly enough when petted through the door of the cage so she let him out.

"He went wild and ran all over the room knocking over a lamp and putting us in darkness," Germain said. "As I changed the light bulb he attacked me and I ended up in the emergency room with stitches in my arm from his bites."

She called the dealer and began a telephone battle to rid herself of the monkey and get her money back.

Returning to Slidell, she traveled with Rico in the cat carrier and then transferred him to a cage until she could send him back to Wisconsin.

Things went well until she put Rico in the cat carrier so she could clean his cage. Somehow he unlatched the door and escaped.

They found him sitting on roommate Susan Turner's bed. As Susan was putting on a long sleeve shirt, Rico ripped up Michelle's legs with teeth and claws.

"Again and again he attacked me and by the time we got him off, there was blood all over the room," Germain said. "We finally locked ourselves in the room."

Frantically calling 911 for an ambulance, Michelle lay on the floor bleeding. St. Tammany Deputy Sheriff Howard McCrea - who also takes calls on nuisance alligators - was called in.

"As soon as I walked in the door the monkey attacked me and threw a picture frame at me," he said. "As he was running around jumping on me and biting me, the girls were in the room screaming, and blood was everywhere. It was a mad scene."

Rico was eventually subdued with nets and tranquilizers after a lengthy siege. Germain and Turner - rescued after the ordeal - were taken to the hospital. Germain needed dozens of stitches for teeth and claw marks.

The monkey was released to an Abita clinic, but Germain had to sign a waiver authorizing the doctor to euthanize Rico if no home could be found.

Rico was tested for monkey virus, Herpes, virus simiae, salmonella, tuberculosis and hepatitis before being put to sleep.

Out over $ 5,000 in medical bills, the cost of the monkey, travel, and other expenses, Germain is left with an uncertain future as a Hawaiian Tropic model.

She has already missed shoots and faces plastic surgery to repair the scars on her legs. Make-up won't work because it runs off in the water - where most of the photo shoots are done.

Associated Press State & Local Wire
August 22, 1998, Saturday, BC cycle

WEST COVINA, Calif. (AP) - One of two police officers bitten by a chimpanzee after it escaped from his owner's home underwent surgery after a serious infection developed in his hand, authorities said.

In addition to the two police officers, an animal control officer and one other person were bitten by Moe, a chimp that had lived in his owner's West Covina home for at least 30 years. Moe escaped and ran wild through a neighborhood for three hours on Aug. 16 before being caught.

Officer Marcos Plebani, 38, was in stable condition following surgery on his hand at Queen of the Valley hospital, police Cmdr. Jim Dillon said. He might miss several weeks of duty.

The chimpanzee remained under a 15-day quarantine at his owner's West Covina home.

"People think it is cute and funny to see a chimpanzee running down the street," Dillon told The San Gabriel Valley Tribune in a story Saturday. "But the officers have to deal with the situation, and now we have one with a serious hand injury."

Authorities, meanwhile, were to decide within a month whether Moe should remain at his home, be moved to another location or be destroyed.

The chimpanzee is not suspected of having any serious communicable disease, said Sgt. Dennis Carter of Los Angeles County Animal Care and Control.

Plebani's infection could have resulted from bacterium commonly found in the mouths of primates, Carter added.

Plebani was injured when the chimp ran toward him, pushed him down and bit him in the left hand, police said. Moe bit another officer on the hip, but the bite did not break the skin, officials said. An animal control officer was also bitten, but refused treatment at the scene.

Charleston Gazette (West Virginia)
July 08, 1998, Wednesday

Escaped chimp goes postal 'Herbie' chases mail carrier from his appointed rounds

BY: Greg Stone

SPRAGUE - Each day, Fred Wriston and his 125-pound chimpanzee Herbie play with hammers and drills.

Fred, a former construction company owner, supervises the sessions.

Monday afternoon, he got called away, leaving an escape tool at the mercy of Herbie's remarkable dexterity.

Four-foot-six, elastic Herbie clawed a hole in the fencing which
encloses a porch at one end of Wriston's home, located just outside Beckley in Raleigh County.

On Cohen Street below, mild-mannered, 25-year postal veteran Arthur Warden was going about his usual business. Warden pulled up to a box across the street, flipped down the lid and turned to grab the mail out of a tray to his left.

Wriston was changing the oil in his truck.

Warden was Herbie's first encounter on the run to freedom.

"When I turned to get the mail, the chimp was coming in the passenger side window," Warden said. "My first thought was, 'Can this monkey get through this window?' When he did get through, my thought was, 'I have to get out of here.'"

Warden unbuckled his seat belt, pushed open the door and flew out.

Herbie followed him, climbing across the mail tray and over the right-side driver's seat.

In his terror, Warden failed to put the vehicle in park on the sloped street. The truck began to roll. Its door caught the exiting chimp on the hip, sending him rolling down a hill and into the yard across the street.

Warden tried to chase after the truck, but Herbie covered the 15 feet which separated them with alarming speed. "He got back up and took off straight at me," he said.

Wriston, meanwhile, had a choice to make. Did he jump in the mail truck and keep it from clobbering his son-in-law's pickup, or save Warden from what the mailman considered primate assault?

Warden and Herbie were locked up like pro wrestlers on the short hillside, each one with a grip on the others' elbows.

"He was strong as an ox," Warden said. "He was pushing me backwards down the hill.

"He appeared to be looking at me in a way that he wanted to bite my arms. Each time he was in a position to do that, I tried to kind of sling him."

Wriston let the mail truck go and stepped between his 13-year-old pet and his mailman. Herbie scampered away. Wriston later found him watching TV on the couch with his father-in-law, who lives nearby.

"He loves people," Wriston said. "He doesn't mean any harm whatsoever."

Wriston said Herbie merely wanted to play. The bared teeth are a sign of playful happiness, he says, not aggression. "A chimp won't bare his teeth if he's attacking you," he said.

Warden didn't know the chimp was just joshing around.

"When the monkey finally left I kind of got shaky," Warden said. " I felt sorry for the animal. He was upset and confused. When the truck hit him and knocked him down, he might have taken that personal."

Both the mail truck and the pickup were damaged.

The Wristons' chimp history goes back 13 years, when they purchased Herbie from an organization known as Monkeys Unlimited in Cincinnati.

"My wife and I both were fascinated with them," Wriston said.

Another chimp, 195-pound Sonny, entered the fold six years ago. He had been abused as a circus animal in Florida, Wriston said. If Warden thought Herbie was scary, he ought to meet Sonny, whose disposition doesn't match his name.

Sonny is the "dominant chimp," the Wristons say, and takes his role as protector of Herbie and his home quite seriously.

Both beasts have the run of much of the Wristons' home. The chimps' portion has been cordoned off and monkey-proofed, with wire grating over windows and triple-reinforced floors.

"Their feet are like sledgehammers," Wriston said.

Wriston, 59, is retired from his construction company career. Joyce, 51, also quit her job because she was dissatisfied with the care the chimps' baby sitter provided.

The chimps' portion of the house is larger than that inhabited by the Wristons, they say. Their outside cage runs 90 feet around the side and back of the house. It's 12 feet wide with high ceilings.

Herbie and Sonny eat what the Wristons eat. Herbie likes hot dogs, hamburgers and spaghetti, while Sonny is partial to vegetables.

The Wristons also own ferrets, a massive Rottweiler, iguanas and a horse. They've also raised two cougars.

Wild animals aren't raised easily, a fact the two acknowledge.

"Who's going to open their home and do the things you need to do in order to keep them happy?" Joyce Wriston asks.

Many wild animal owners end up confining them to basements or other spaces, Fred Wriston said, because they lose control of them.

Herbie played with children in the street until the age of 6 or so, until his strength became too great.

He once got out of Wriston's car and climbed through a drive-through window at a fast-food restaurant. Wriston found an elderly lady inside feeding him.

On another occasion, Herbie used a drill to remove a household door from its hinges.

Still, they don't encourage others to follow in their footsteps. They take Herbie and Sonny to various fairs and festivals to make that very point.

"If we had known what we were getting into, we never would have done it," Fred Wriston said.

But now they're in too deep.

"Now that we've got them, we'd give our lives to protect them," Joyce said.

The Times
June 27, 1998, Saturday

If you want a chimp, you'll need a zoo too
BY: Carol Price

Monkeys may be cute and cuddly when they are young, but they do not make good house pets, writes Carol Price

Recently the actress Liz Hurley was pictured with chimps in the African jungle as part of a Born Free Foundation campaign to save the creatures. She said: "I've been obsessed with chimpanzees ever since I can remember and often thought how I'd like to own one. When you look deep into a chimp's eyes, you seem to see all the wisdom in the world."

Many people have fallen for chimps as pets, but as Ms Hurley says: "I now realise that it would actually be horribly cruel to the chimp. Wild animals are not supposed to live with humans in houses or, even worse, in cages." When they are small, primates are cute and appealing, but when they grow up they become more focused on dismantling your home.

Monkeys have lots of things not going for them as pets. They have sharp teeth, volatile natures, a devastating effect on furnishings and as they mature they prefer the company of other monkeys. This could be why we rarely see the singer Michael Jackson with his chimp, Bubbles. As an adult male, Bubbles could now top ten stone, so his cuddle and manageability factors are likely to have dived faster than a flop album.

Today in Britain, since the introduction of the 1976 Dangerous Wild Animals Act, you have to be an approved zoo or specially licensed individual to keep monkeys. America has even stricter requirements, which is why when Jackson got Bubbles he also had the extra little outlay of the zoo to go with him.

Before 1976, primates were common pets here. Molly Badham, a primate expert and director at Twycross Zoo in Leicestershire, remembers all too well the first chimp she brought home from a London pet shop in the Sixties: "It was after she had bitten two friends that it became clear that it was the guests we had to lock in the spare bedrooms. She was lovely, but you need to be firm. They have to learn the word no' as early as possible."

Dick Shiel had additional problems when he set up a monkey sanctuary in Ramsgate, Kent, which rescued many primates from research laboratories. He inherited a chimp called Melody, which - courtesy of past research work - arrived with a 20-a-day cigarette habit.

Mr Shiel says: "Weaning her off the fags was a job and a half, to say the least. If she didn't get them she was tense, neurotic, screaming - a bit like you'd expect in a human under the same circumstances.

"It didn't seem fair to make her go from 20 to zero without help. We eventually got her down to six a day, which she could smoke only in a segregated area while we stood by with a fire extinguisher. But she was bright enough to turn those six into 12 by breaking them in half, so we were still stuck with a problem."

Monkeys are still being used in smoking experiments in Japan, according to the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, and in other laboratory research worldwide. "Although Melody lived to be 28," says Mr Shiel, " it might have been 40 if it wasn't for the fags."

Jim Cronin, a former head primate keeper at the Bronx Zoo in New York who is now director of the Monkey World Rescue Centre in Wareham, Dorset, thinks it is still far too easy in Britain for inexperienced owners to get monkeys. He describes the procedure for issuing the required special licences as "totally inadequate".

"All you need as a private owner is one local vet and local environmental officer to say yes. What do they know about monkeys? There are only about half a dozen vets in this country who are primate experts," he says.

As a result, a stream of new inmates is joining the existing 45 chimps and 110 other monkeys of various species at Monkey World. "Many of them were and still are too readily available through small ads or pet shops," says Mr Cronin, "particularly smaller, popular varieties here like vervets, macaques, marmosets and capuchins which people think are cute until they bite them."

Mr Cronin says that marmosets suffer in Britain particularly, because you do not need a special licence to own one. Because they have one rather than two sets of canine teeth this, in theory, makes them less dangerous.

A chimp rescued from a shed in Barcelona - his owner bought him from a circus, then he grew too big to handle - and a woolly monkey confiscated from the home of a woman in Norwich - she smuggled it here under her arm on a flight from Bogota - are, says Mr Cronin, two recent Monkey World acquisitions which should not have been pets but were. He understands too well the appeal of monkeys: "They are so wonderfully, if not scarily, like us." He is still adamant that the only place for them is with their own kind, under expert supervision.

Ms Hurley and the Born Free Foundation are establishing a 100- acre island sanctuary for chimpanzees that have been rescued from smugglers in Uganda.

She supports Mr Cronin in appealing to would-be owners: "Please don't get one. I'm only going to have to deal with it later."

Monkey World (0800 456600);

Twycross Zoo (01827 880260); Born Free Foundation (01403 240170)

Central Maine Morning Sentinel (Waterville, ME)
May 15, 1998 Friday

Pet owner again afoul of the law

BRIDGTON (AP) - A Bridgton woman whose pet monkeys were seized nearly a year ago by game wardens now faces a court hearing following the confiscation of eight horses and a cow from her property.

Officials are trying to determine whether Karen M. Hawkins abused the horses and cow, which have been placed in the care of the Maine State Society for the Protection of Animals in Windham. No charges have been filed, and Assistant District Attorney Tara Jenkins said evidence still is being gathered.

After obtaining a search warrant, Bridgton police officer Gary M. Chadbourne found a dead horse in a barn and confiscated animals that he said 'were showing signs of being malnourished, dehydrated.'

Jeanene L. Wilson, a humane agent for the state Department of Agriculture, was with Chadbourne during the April 28 search. If the horses weren't taken from Hawkins, their condition would worsen and they would die, Wilson said in a court affidavit.

Bridgton District Court authorized the animals' confiscation pending a hearing June 10. Hawkins, 45, had no comment Wednesday.

Hawkins was the owner of a monkey that allegedly bit and scratched a woman in a supermarket checkout line last summer. The monkey was taken from Hawkins, despite her insistence that it did nothing wrong.

The offending primate, named Mookie, was sent to a sanctuary in Florida. Game wardens also seized a second monkey.

Hawkins, a horse farmer, said the monkey was being trained to assist disabled people who cannot lift or manipulate objects.

Chadbourne, who is Bridgton's animal control officer, said Hawkins' horses and cow had been living in inhumane conditions and needed medical attention. He would not say whether Hawkins protested the search and the animals' confiscation.

Malaysia General News
27 February 1998, Friday
GIRL HOSPITALISED AFTER ATTACK BY FAMILY'S PET MONKEY
Monkey-Attacked

A three-year-old girl had to be hospitalised after she was attacked by the family's pet monkey while sleeping on Wednesday.

Norhayati Ibrahim was in a room with her five-month-old brother at their house at Jalan Teku here when she was attacked by the monkey at about 2pm.

The male monkey had broken loose from its chain, entered the room and attacked her.

Norhayati's mother Puan Siti binte Kassim, 28, who was in the living room with two other children, rushed into the room when she heard her daughter's cry for help.

She saw Norhayati covered in blood and the monkey attacking her, she said when met at the Sibu General Hospital here.

The animal, however, did not touch Norhayati's little brother who was asleep.

Her two nephews nearby, who also heard the commotion, rushed to her aid and beat the monkey to death with a piece of wood.

Norhayati was rushed to the hospital and given emergency treatment. She suffered injuries to her head, face, eyes, upper lips and thigh.

Siti said the monkey had been with the family for a number of years and was known to act aggressively when it saw young girls or women.

Austin American-Statesman
January 19, 1998

Man bitten by pet monkey agrees to have rabies shots

SAN ANGELO -- A man bitten by a neighbor's monkey has changed his mind and agreed to undergo rabies vaccinations.

Eric Hernandez was bitten Jan. 9 by Ted E. Bear, a 6-year-old Capuchin monkey owned by neighbor Judy Woods. Hernandez, 19, had initially refused to have the shots, prompting city health authorities to order the monkey to be destroyed so its brain could be examined for rabies.

Woods, who depended on the monkey for small chores because of disabled hands, obtained a court order Thursday to stop authorities from putting her pet to death.

Her attorney, Galen Moeller, argued that the chance of the monkey's having rabies was too minuscule to justify killing the pet.

Hernandez changed his mind Friday, agreeing to take the shots.

Hernandez's decision brought relief to city officials, who faced a dilemma over the matter.

Everybody at the city is just thrilled that we don't have to worry about (Hernandez) coming down with something,'' City Prosecutor Jeff Betty said.

Monkey that bit teen won't be killed: San Angelo judge extends quarantine
01-17-1998
The Dallas Morning News

SAN ANGELO, Texas - A monkey who attacked its owner's neighbor won' t be put to death - for now, at least.

Authorities planned to put Judy Woods' 6-year-old Capuchin monkey to death, lop off his head and examine his brain for signs of rabies after he bit her next-door neighbor on the neck last week.

But Judge Barbara Walther agreed Thursday night to continue a temporary injunction against the animal, said Galen Moeller, Mrs. Woods' lawyer.

"The monkey will stay in quarantine to see if any clinical signs of rabies appear for 30 days from the date of bite," Mr. Moeller said. The judge can overturn her decision at any time, he said.

If no rabies symptoms surface, the animal would be released to the owner.

Mrs. Woods said the monkey, named "Ted E. Bear," is perfectly healthy and was trying to protect her daughter during a neighbor's visit.

"Everybody's been around him. I have a neighbor boy who's bawling his eyes out because he'd play ball with him," she said.

Mrs. Woods, whose hands were weakened by a neck injury, said she relies on the monkey to perform routine tasks at home.

"He opens Coke cans. He opens medicine bottles for me. I taught him to turn on my lights, turn off my lights, turn on the water, flush toilets," she said.

With the monkey locked up, Mrs. Woods said, friends and families have had to fill in.

"Luckily, I've had a lot of people come in and help with some of the things he does," she said.

San Angelo Health Department Director Mike Loving said the only way to check for rabies is to examine the animal's brain.

The procedure was set for Wednesday but was postponed so state District Judge Barbara Walther could hear Mrs. Woods' protest Thursday, Mr. Loving said.

Eric Hernandez, 19, was visiting Mrs. Woods, her 17-year-old daughter and 5-day-old granddaughter Jan. 9 when the monkey lunged at him and bit him in the neck.

Animal bites involving dogs or cats usually require a 10-day quarantine to see if rabies symptoms develop. Health officials say that same procedure isn't a guarantee for monkeys.

"I don't really want to put the monkey down," Mr. Loving said.

Mr. Loving said the city could consider other options if the bite victim had agreed to immediately take the rabies prevention shots. Mr. Hernandez declined to do so.

Ms. Woods said the incident occurred after the neighbor let himself into her house, uninvited, and visited with her daughter.

"My daughter doesn't like him much," she said of Mr. Hernandez. "He rubbed her on the stomach, and Bear lunged at him."

San Angelo's exotic animal ordinance bars ownership of monkeys in the city limits. Mr. Loving said his office probably will not pursue charges.

"If the monkey is not killed, I think we will ask that the monkey be removed from San Angelo unless the City Council sees fit to change the ordinance," Mr. Loving said.

Emerging Infectious Diseases
United States Centers for Disease Control
January 1998
B-virus from Pet Macaque Monkeys: An Emerging Threat in the United States?
Stephanie R. Ostrowski,* Mira J. Leslie,† Terri Parrott,‡ Susan Abelt, and Patrick E. Piercy§ *Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; †Arizona Department of Health Services, Phoenix, Arizona, USA; ‡Pembroke Park Animal Hospital, Pembroke Park, Florida, USA; Lake Superior Zoological Gardens, Duluth, Minnesota, USA; and §Illinois Department of Public Health, Springfield, Illinois, USA

Of primary concern when evaluating macaque bites are bacterial and B-virus infections. B-virus infection is highly prevalent (80% to 90%) in adult macaques and may cause a potentially fatal meningoencephalitis in humans. We examined seven nonoccupational exposure incidents involving 24 persons and eight macaques. Six macaques were tested for herpes B; four (67%) were seropositive. A common observation was that children were more than three times as likely to be bitten than adults. The virus must be assumed to be a potential health hazard in macaque bite wounds; this risk makes macaques unsuitable as pets.
B-Virus in Nonhuman Primates
Cercopithecine herpesvirus 1 (Herpesvirus simiae or B-virus) frequently infects Old World primates of the genus Macaca. Of at least 19 species of macaques, rhesus, Japanese, cynomolgus, pig-tailed, and stump-tailed macaques are the species most commonly used in biomedical research (1). Seroprevalence of neutralizing antibodies to B-virus in captive adult macaque populations is 73% to 100% (1-3). Like Herpesvirus simplex virus infection in humans, B-virus infection in monkeys is characterized by lifelong infection with intermittent reactivation and shedding of the virus in saliva or genital secretions, particularly during periods of stress or immunosuppression (4). B-virus infection is transmitted among free-ranging or group-housed animals, primarily through sexual activity and bites. In captivity, as well as in the wild, mature macaques are more likely than immature animals to have been infected with, and shed, the virus. Antibody titer to B-virus indicates infection but can neither confirm nor eliminate actual viral shedding at the time of the bite (4).
B-Virus in Humans
B-virus disease in humans usually results from macaque bites or scratches (4). Incubation periods may be as short as 2 days, but more commonly are 2 to 5 weeks (1,3,5-7; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], unpub. data). Most documented infections have occurred among biomedical research employees who had occupational exposure to macaques, although transmission has also been documented among laboratory workers handling infected central nervous system and kidney tissues (1,5).

From 1990 to 1992, 28 U.S. residents reported nonoccupational macaque bites to CDC (L. Chapman, pers. comm.). Since 1993, additional nonoccupational exposure cases have been reported, seven of which (involving 24 persons and eight macaques) are listed in Table 1. Of the six macaques for which herpes B serologic results were available, four (67%) were positive. Two owners refused requests for testing. Four (44%) of nine exposed children were bitten, versus only three (20%) of 12 adults. Children were 3.2 times more likely to be bitten than adults; although a common observation, this association is not statistically significant for this case series.

Table 1. Selected pet macaque bite casesa,b

Location Primate species, age, B-virus status Nature of exposure Comments

Illinois Rhesus, 20+ yrs, B-virus positive Cynomolgus, 2-4 yrs, B-virus negative Household contact (2 adults/3 children), bites, scratches (2 adults) Bought at auction, wife bitten multiple sites, children hand-fed monkey
Florida Cynomolgus, 2 yrs, B-virus positive Household contact (1 adult), bite (1 child) Kissed on lips, ate off owner's plate, shared bed
Arizona Cynomolgus, 2 yrs, B-virus negative Bites on toe and buttock (child) Unprovoked attack on neighbor, declared vicious animal by judge, no. of household contacts (owner) unreported

Cynomolgus, 7 weeks, B-virus positive Household contact (6 adults), bite on face (1 adult) Diapered, shared chewed gum, oral ulcers noted by veterinarian, bite incident at neighborhood bar
Macaque, (species undetermined), 2 yrs, B-virus status unknown Bite on thigh (1 child) Unprovoked attack (climbed fence to bite child)
Macaque, (species and age undetermined), B-virus status unknown Severe bite (1 child) Injured child attended an unlicensed day-care facility run by monkey owner, 7 other monkeys on premises
Minnesota Rhesus, 2 yrs, B-virus positive Household contact, owners' friend bitten Acquired as "child-substitute" (full-time baby-sitters hired)

aCases referred to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since 1993.
bAs of November 1997, no confirmed transmission of B-virus in these persons has been documented.

Most free-ranging monkey populations are thought to be part of the exotic fauna of distant tourist destinations and wild animal parks; however, macaque species have established free-ranging feral populations in Texas and Florida. In such settings, contact between humans and macaques cannot be safely controlled (8-10), and workers and visitors are at risk. Guidelines for B-virus prevention and diagnosis have recently been published (9-12).

Symptomatic human infection with B-virus is rare; fewer than 40 cases were reported from 1933 to 1994 (1,4-7,13-15; CDC, unpub. data). However, the consequences of symptomatic infection may be severe. Viral infection rapidly progresses to central loci in the spinal cord and, eventually, the brain. Of 24 known symptomatic patients whose cases were reviewed in 1992, 19 (79%) died (CDC; unpub. data).

Before 1987, most surviving human patients had moderate to severe neurologic impairment, sometimes requiring lifelong institutionalization (1). Recently, acyclovir has prevented progression of the disease in a limited number of patients. In at least three patients, this treatment reversed the neurologic symptoms and was life-saving (7,14,15). Rapid diagnosis and initiation of therapy are of paramount importance in preventing death or permanent disability in surviving patients.
Human and Macaque Interactions
Most owners form an emotional bond with infant primates. This bond is probably strengthened by the neonatal monkey's physical and behavioral resemblance to a human infant. Although physically and emotionally dependent on their mothers (or human substitutes) for up to 2 years of age, most macaques exhibit unpredictable behavior as they mature. Males tend to become aggressive, and both male and female macaques bite to defend themselves and to establish dominance. Dominance within the social hierarchy of macaques is established by aggression toward other monkeys, generally the younger and smaller members of the group. Both veterinary specialists and breeders of nonhuman primates agree that as a rule, all these animals bite (16,17). Biting incidents eventually bring the animals to the attention of animal control authorities. Most state health departments can require that any biting nondomestic animal be euthanized and the brain be submitted for rabies testing.
Regulations, Guidelines, and Policies Regarding Nonhuman Primates
Table 2 lists the principal federal regulations affecting the possession, distribution, and uses of nonhuman primates. The United States is obligated under the Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to restrict and control trafficking in exotic and endangered species.

Table 2. Federal regulations regarding nonhuman primates

Agency Statute Regulation Subjects

Departments of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Public Health Services Act, 42 USCS 201 42 CFR 71.53 Importation, distribution, bona fide uses in the U.S., breeding colony requirements, pet/avocationist uses
Department of Agriculture Animal Welfare Act, 7 USCS 2131-2159 9 CFR Subchapter A Licenses (breeders, dealers, laboratories, exhibitors, auctions), interstate health certificates, humane care and transport
Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Endangered Species Act, 16 USCS 1540 Lacey Act, 18 USCS 42 50 CFR 10, 11, 13, 14, 16 Endangered species, smuggling, interstate sales

Since October 10, 1975, U.S. Public Health regulation 42 CFR 71.53(c) has prohibited the importation of nonhuman primates into the United States as pets, and neither nonhuman primates imported since that date nor their offspring may be legally bred or distributed for any uses other than bona fide science, university-level educational programs, or full-time zoologic exhibition. Furthermore, the regulation states, "the maintenance of nonhuman primates as pets, hobby, or an avocation with occasional display to others is not a permissible use" (18).

All states require their citizens to comply with applicable federal regulations. Many state officials, however, may be unaware of regulatory restrictions on the uses and distribution of nonhuman primates and may be confused by the distinctions among federal agencies regarding regulatory restrictions on captive-bred animals. State wildlife authorities may not know that a federal public health regulation prohibits the keeping ("maintenance") of nonhuman primates imported after October 10, 1975, as pets, for a hobby, or as an avocation; likewise, many do not know the compelling public health and safety reasons for enforcement.

Captive-bred offspring of animals purported to have been imported before October 10, 1975, are frequently offered for sale. Without documentation it is very difficult to determine whether this is the case. Depending on the specific circumstances, it is possible for undocumented animals to be considered deliberately misclassified (i.e., intentionally mislabeled), a violation under the Lacey Act (18 USC 42) and under 16 USC 3373 (19).

In 1987 and 1988, occupational safety guidelines were published based on evidence that all macaque species are inherently dangerous to humans because of the risk for B-virus transmission, as well as the likelihood of serious physical injury from bite wounds (9-12,14,15). Several recent reviews of monkey-bite injuries worldwide indicate that severe lacerations, wound infections, and permanent sequelae (e.g., flexure contractures, osteomyelitis) were present in 33% of cases (20,21).

In 1990, the American Veterinary Medical Association issued a general policy statement opposing the keeping of wild animals (especially those inherently dangerous to humans) as pets and advising veterinarians to exert their influence to discourage this practice (22). In 1995, updated guidelines for the prevention and treatment of B-virus infections in exposed persons were published (12). Despite these continuing public health educational efforts, nonhuman primates (including macaques) continue to be marketed and kept as pets in many states (16,17,23).
The Frequency of Exposure Resulting in Infection
Much remains to be learned about the pathogenesis of B-virus infection in humans. In this very limited case series (Table 1), one family (two adults and two of three children) exposed to a B-virus positive macaque had flulike symptoms. One of the adults had additional symptoms related to the injury site, which suggested B-virus infection. In the other six cases, no suspect clinical symptoms were noted, and disease-specific antiviral postexposure prophylaxis was not given. B-virus is still rare, and diagnostic evaluation of clinical cases of aseptic meningitis does not routinely include B-virus testing.

Owners of pet macaques are often reluctant to report bite injuries from their pets, even to their medical care providers, and may fail to appreciate that the premonitory headache and flulike symptoms (which may lead them to seek medical attention) could be associated with healed, often minor, bite wounds dating back more than a month (23). The Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, which is the designated National Institutes of Health B-virus resource laboratory, reports processing 2,000 to 3,000 human diagnostic specimens per year between 1990 and 1994, or approximately 200 per month, most of which reflect occupational exposure (8).
Some Public Health Consequences of the Nonhuman Primate Pet Trade
The pet trade in a variety of nonhuman primate species, and particularly the apparent increase in macaque species as part of this trade, may constitute an emerging infectious disease threat in the United States. Although the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service indicates that illegal traffic in nonhuman primates is a significant aspect of the estimated $3 billion worth of wildlife illegally traded in the United States annually, more data are needed on the actual number of macaques in the private sector and on trends in the population (24; U.S. Fish and Wildlife special agents, pers. comm.). The public resources deployed when a monkey-bite case is referred to public health authorities are similar to those required for rabies investigations (M. Leslie and T. Parrott, unpub. obs.). Persons bitten by pet and feral macaques are more likely than persons bitten in the workplace to require public resources, delay seeking medical care, and have an initial medical evaluation by care givers who are largely unfamiliar with the potentially serious consequences of B-virus exposure (23). In contrast, occupational exposure generally occurs within highly structured workplace settings, where health professionals are prepared to provide prompt, appropriate, and specific care at no public cost.

Ongoing efforts to establish B-virus-free macaque colonies illustrate the difficulties of ascertaining B-virus-negative status, even with a battery of sophisticated laboratory tests and extended longitudinal follow-up of individual macaques (25). The high percentage of death in known cases of human B-virus disease underscores the potential seriousness of all bite or scratch exposures from macaques.

The extremely high prevalence of B-virus along with their behavioral characteristics make the macaque species unsuitable as pets.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Drs. D. Manning, S. O' Marro, R. Montrey, T. Burke, D. Morton, and J. Thulin; Mr. J. Francis, Mr. C. Langkop; Drs. R. Martin, J. Hilliard, D. Watkins; Capt. J. Thompson; Special Agents P. Bosco, D. Burleson, J. English, S. Hamilton, T. Karabinoff, D. Kirkby, D. Manera, G. Phillips, G. Phocas, T. Santelle, J. Sommers, C. Tabor; Dr. J. Cheek; and the Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases, Animal Resources Branch, and the Division of Quarantine, CDC.
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3. Orcutt RP, Pucak GJ, Foster HL, Kilcourse JY. Multiple testing for the detection of B virus antibody in specially handled rhesus monkeys after capture from virgin trapping grounds. Lab Anim Sci 1976;26:70-4.
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24. Webster D. The looting and smuggling and fencing and hoarding of impossibly precious, feathered and scaly wild things: inside the $10 billion black market in endangered animals. The New York Times Magazine 1997 Feb 16: 27-33, 48-50.
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The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
December 13, 1997, Saturday, ALL EDITIONS
Is the public in any danger?;
Monkeys, now illegal, a dwindling pet set in Georgia

BY: Patricia Guthrie; STAFF WRITER

While biologists well know the dangers of macaque monkeys as carriers of the herpes B virus that killed Yerkes researcher Elizabeth R. Griffin, the public seems unaware of the risks posed by these primates that are often seen as cuddly, cute creatures.

"All monkeys bite. They bite fast, they bite without warning, and they bite hard," says Dr. Stephanie Ostrowski, veterinary epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Monkeys don't make good pets. And macaque monkeys that may be carrying the herpes B virus particularly don't make good pets."

In Georgia, it is illegal to have any kind of monkey as a pet under a 1994 amendment to the Georgia Wild Animal Law.

They are allowed into the state only for research or exhibition purposes and are regulated under several state and federal agencies.

"The permits we do give are closely regulated, and we prohibit private ownership," said Ken Riddleberger, senior wildlife biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. However, people already owning pet monkeys prior to the 1994 law change were allowed to keep them until the animal died, but no numbers were immediately available.

People who keep monkeys at home under this exemption usually own white-faced capuchin monkeys, which are not carriers of herpes B.

Zoo Atlanta has no rhesus macaque monkeys on exhibit because it specializes in gorillas, baboons and orangutans. If monkeys are part of circus acts that travel through the state, they must be caged and surrounded by barriers that prohibit people from getting too close.

Despite many state and federal regulations, people may be keeping monkeys illegally. Many states allow them as pets, even though the importation of all primates as pets has been illegal under federal law since 1975.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which enforces the law, estimates there is an annual $ 3 billion market in illegal exotic animals sales and their by-products, such as ivory.

"In many states, there are no regulations against owning or selling monkeys," Ostrowski said. "It's very difficult to ascertain how many are being kept as pets."

To warn the public about keeping macaque monkeys, Ostrowski and others recently compiled the first data on the incidence of bites by these monkeys in nonresearch settings.

Since 1990, 52 incidents of biting by pet macaques were reported to the CDC from people around the country, according to an agency study to be released in next month's Emerging Infectious Diseases journal. There could be many more cases that went unreported to local public health officials.

Reviewing 24 cases in four states, the CDC found that 24 people had been bitten by eight macaque monkeys since 1993. Six of those eight monkeys were tested for herpes B; four of them were found to have it. Children were 3.2 times more likely to be bitten than adults.

None of the people bitten developed the virus, but an Illinois family did exhibit its symptoms, Ostrowski said.

Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center of Emory University is largest of eight institutions in Georgia holding a wild animal permit that allows rhesus macaques or other primates to be used as research animals. Native to Asia and Africa, several species of macaque monkeys are known to be carriers of herpes B. Experts say they believe the virus is spread among monkeys in the wild as they grow up in colonies, or groups, and by the time they reach adulthood, 90 percent of them carry the virus.

Herpes B is similar to the herpes simplex virus that causes periodic cold sores on the lips and genitals of humans. While it does not sicken the primates, when transmitted to humans it can be fatal. It's an extremely rare transmission, considering that thousands of macaque monkeys are handled thousands of times by researchers nationwide.

Every year, about 8,000 macaque monkeys are imported into the United States for research purposes, the CDC reports.

Riddleberger said he receives inquiries weekly from people wondering about pet monkey regulations. Public interest may have peaked after a white-faced capuchin named "Marcel" appeared on the sitcom, "Friends," several years ago. In Atlanta, the monkey known as "Dr. Irving M.D.," a promotional primate for FM-radio station Star94, is a also a white-faced capuchin owned by licensed trainer Bobby Manheim.

"I get calls every week of people wanting monkeys as pets," Riddleberger said. "Besides the disease factor, they're destructive. . . . After I explain to them it's like having a 2-year-old around for 40 years needing diapers, that usually does enough to discourage people."

Chicago Tribune
13 December 1997, Saturday
MONKEYS CAN POSE THREAT
By William Mullen, Tribune Staff Writer

A bizarre accident in a Georgia animal laboratory that seemed unlikely to occur by ordinary laws of chance has killed a 22-year-old lab assistant exposed to a herpes virus in a rhesus monkey.

Elizabeth R. Griffin, a worker at Yerkes Primate Research Center at Emory University in Atlanta, became the first known human to have contracted herpes B virus via the eye.

Carried only by macaque monkeys, which include rhesus monkeys, herpes B is relatively harmless to the monkeys and is difficult for them to transmit to other animals. In the United States, the virus has been transmitted to humans only 40 times in the last 64 years, but it has been fatal in 70 percent of those cases.

Griffin, who recently graduated from college, died Wednesday in Atlanta after a six-week, up-and-down struggle against the disease.

Viral researchers said her death should serve as a warning to be aware of risks when people handle monkeys of the macaque species, especially people who have them as pets.

"People who keep them as pets are distressingly ignorant," said Dr. Louisa Chapman, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

"We are always getting calls from physicians treating patients, especially children, bitten by pet monkeys. Fortunately, even with bites and scratches, few of them become infected."

There is no way of determining how many macaques are kept as pets. Thousands of the monkeys, however, are used in medical research--especially rhesus monkeys. They are favored because they are plentiful and breed easily in captivity.

Griffin was unknowingly exposed to the virus as she helped move a cage containing a rhesus monkey at the Yerkes lab.

The lab, which uses primates in research on such human diseases as AIDS and cancer orders employees to follow strict safety protocols when working with animals. Griffin was following those protocols, wearing a facial mask, clothing and gloves to protect her from bites and scratches, when the accident occurred.

As she helped move the cage, covered with a fine-mesh screen as a further precaution, Griffin peeked into the cage to see how the monkey was faring. The monkey apparently either spit or flung bodily fluid at her as she peered in, striking her eyeball.

"Because it was so minor an event, it was not even viewed by (Griffin) as serious," said Dr. Tom Gordon, a Yerkes spokesman.

"She didn't even see it as an accident or an injury."

Another Yerkes spokeswoman, Kate Egan, said that because the virus isn't known to travel through the air, Griffin didn't believe she had endangered herself by not wearing eye protection.

"In every other case we know of, the infection is from a bite or a scratch or a needle stick," Egan said.

About 10 days after the accident, Griffin's eye became inflamed and she was admitted to a hospital, where she responded well to anti-viral medication.

Sent home after 10 days, she returned after complaining of weakness in her legs. She died this week in the hospital.

Herpes B was first isolated and described by famed polio researcher Dr. Albert Sabin, who eventually developed a live polio vaccine by growing them on rhesus monkey cells.

There are a large number of herpes viruses that occur primarily in monkeys. Because the monkeys are the natural hosts to the viruses, they are relatively benign, much as human versions of herpes are relatively benign in humans, occasionally causing lesions and skin eruptions when the carrier is stressed or ill.

Researchers say that in macaques the virus is active and transmissible only 2 percent to 3 percent of the time. Even when the virus is active and a monkey bites or scratches a human, the virus rarely is transmitted. But when it is transmitted to a human, it takes a devastating course.

"It attacks the central nervous system and causes severe neurological damage," said Dr. Patricia Spear, chairwoman of microbiology and immunology at Northwestern University.

Macaque monkeys in general and rhesus monkeys in particular are not endangered, so most zoos do not keep or display them. Neither Lincoln Park Zoo nor Brookfield Zoo has had any macaques for more than a decade.

In zoos, they pose no risk to visitors because they are either displayed behind glass walls or far from any possible public contact.

Safety protocols have reduced chances of transmission of the virus over the years. Griffin's death probably will make those protocols even more stringent.

PHOTO: Elizabeth Griffin, a lab worker at Emory University, died after contracting herpes B from a rhesus monkey despite taking extensive precautionary measures. AP photo.

The Dayton Daily News
December 13, 1997, Saturday
PEOPLE ARE UNAWARE OF DANGERS OF HAVING MONKEYS AS PETS
Patricia Guthrie COX NEWS SERVICE

While biologists know well the dangers of macaque monkeys as carriers of the herpes B virus that killed Yerkes researcher Elizabeth R. Griffin, the public seems unaware of the risks posed by these primates that are often seen as cuddly, cute creatures.

''All monkeys bite. They bite fast, they bite without warning and they bite hard,'' says Dr. Stephanie Ostrowski, veterinarian epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ''Monkeys don't make good pets.

And macaque monkeys that may be carrying the herpes B virus particularly don't make good pets.'' In Georgia, it is illegal to have any kind of monkey as a pet under a 1994 amendment to the Georgia Wild Animal Law.

They are allowed into the state only for research or exhibition purposes and are regulated under several state and federal agencies.

''The permits we do give are closely regulated and we prohibit private ownership,'' said Ken Riddleberger, senior wildlife biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. However, people already owning pet monkeys prior to the 1994 law change were allowed to keep them until the animal died. Riddleberger said the state has no estimate on how many monkeys may be pets.

People who do keep monkeys at home under this exemption usually own white-faced capuchin monkeys which are not carriers of herpes B. Zoo Atlanta has no rhesus macaque monkeys on exhibit because it specialized instead in gorillas, baboons and orangutans.

If monkeys are part of circus acts that travel through the state, they must caged and surrounded by barriers prohibiting people from getting too close.

Despite numerous state and federal regulations, people may also be keeping monkeys illegally. Many states allow them as pets even though the importation of all primates has been illegal under federal law since 1975.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which enforces the law, estimates there is an annual $ 3 billion market in illegal exotic animals sales and their by-products, such as ivory.

''In many states, there's no regulations against owning or selling monkeys,'' Ostrowski said. ''It's very difficult to ascertain how many are being kept as pets.''

In an attempt to warn the public about keeping macaque monkeys in their homes, Ostrowski and others just compiled the first data on the incidence of bites by these monkeys in non-research settings.

Since 1990, 52 incidents of biting by pet macaques were reported to the CDC from people around the country, according to an agency study to be released in next month's Emerging Infectious Diseases journal. There could be many more cases that went unreported to local public health officials.

The study could not conclude how many of the animals carried the potentially fatal virus. It did find, however, children were 3.2 times more likely to be bitten than adults.

Reviewing 24 cases in four states, the CDC found 24 people had been bitten by eight macaque monkeys since 1993. Six of those eight monkeys were tested for the herpes B; four of them were found to have it.

None of the people bitten developed the virus, but an Illinois family did exhibit its symptoms, Ostrowski said.

''There was a lot of sleepless nights in all these cases,'' she said.

Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center of Emory University is one of eight institutions in Georgia holding a wild animal permit that allows rhesus macaques or other primates to be used as research animals. Five of these eight permits are for rhesus macaques only, Riddleberger said.

Native to Asia and Africa, macaque monkeys are known to be carriers of herpes B. Experts believe the virus is spread among monkeys in the wild as they grow up in colonies, or groups, and by the time they reach adulthood, 90 percent of them have the disease.

Herpes B is similar to the herpes simplex virus that causes periodic cold sores on the lips and genitals of humans. While it does not sicken the primates, when transmitted to humans it can be fatal. It's an extremely rare transmission considering that thousands of macaque monkeys are handled thousands of times by researchers nationwide.

Is the public in any danger?: Monkeys, now illegal, a dwindling pet set in Georgia
12-13-1997
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
By: Patricia Guthrie

While biologists well know the dangers of macaque monkeys as carriers of the herpes B virus that killed Yerkes researcher Elizabeth R. Griffin, the public seems unaware of the risks posed by these primates that are often seen as cuddly, cute creatures.

"All monkeys bite. They bite fast, they bite without warning, and they bite hard," says Dr. Stephanie Ostrowski, veterinary epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Monkeys don' t make good pets. And macaque monkeys that may be carrying the herpes B virus particularly don't make good pets."

In Georgia, it is illegal to have any kind of monkey as a pet under a 1994 amendment to the Georgia Wild Animal Law.

They are allowed into the state only for research or exhibition purposes and are regulated under several state and federal agencies.

"The permits we do give are closely regulated, and we prohibit private ownership," said Ken Riddleberger, senior wildlife biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. However, people already owning pet monkeys prior to the 1994 law change were allowed to keep them until the animal died, but no numbers were immediately available.

People who keep monkeys at home under this exemption usually own white-faced capuchin monkeys, which are not carriers of herpes B.

Zoo Atlanta has no rhesus macaque monkeys on exhibit because it specializes in gorillas, baboons and orangutans. If monkeys are part of circus acts that travel through the state, they must be caged and surrounded by barriers that prohibit people from getting too close.

Despite many state and federal regulations, people may be keeping monkeys illegally. Many states allow them as pets, even though the importation of all primates as pets has been illegal under federal law since 1975.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which enforces the law, estimates there is an annual $3 billion market in illegal exotic animals sales and their by-products, such as ivory.

"In many states, there are no regulations against owning or selling monkeys," Ostrowski said. "It's very difficult to ascertain how many are being kept as pets."

To warn the public about keeping macaque monkeys, Ostrowski and others recently compiled the first data on the incidence of bites by these monkeys in nonresearch settings.

Since 1990, 52 incidents of biting by pet macaques were reported to the CDC from people around the country, according to an agency study to be released in next month's Emerging Infectious Diseases journal. There could be many more cases that went unreported to local public health officials.

Reviewing 24 cases in four states, the CDC found that 24 people had been bitten by eight macaque monkeys since 1993. Six of those eight monkeys were tested for herpes B; four of them were found to have it. Children were 3.2 times more likely to be bitten than adults.

None of the people bitten developed the virus, but an Illinois family did exhibit its symptoms, Ostrowski said.

Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center of Emory University is largest of eight institutions in Georgia holding a wild animal permit that allows rhesus macaques or other primates to be used as research animals. Native to Asia and Africa, several species of macaque monkeys are known to be carriers of herpes B. Experts say they believe the virus is spread among monkeys in the wild as they grow up in colonies, or groups, and by the time they reach adulthood, 90 percent of them carry the virus.

Herpes B is similar to the herpes simplex virus that causes periodic cold sores on the lips and genitals of humans. While it does not sicken the primates, when transmitted to humans it can be fatal. It's an extremely rare transmission, considering that thousands of macaque monkeys are handled thousands of times by researchers nationwide.

Every year, about 8,000 macaque monkeys are imported into the United States for research purposes, the CDC reports.

Riddleberger said he receives inquiries weekly from people wondering about pet monkey regulations. Public interest may have peaked after a white-faced capuchin named "Marcel" appeared on the sitcom, "Friends, " several years ago. In Atlanta, the monkey known as "Dr. Irving M.D., " a promotional primate for FM-radio station Star94, is a also a white- faced capuchin owned by licensed trainer Bobby Manheim.

"I get calls every week of people wanting monkeys as pets," Riddleberger said. "Besides the disease factor, they're destructive. . . . After I explain to them it's like having a 2-year-old around for 40 years needing diapers, that usually does enough to discourage people."

Palm Beach Post (Florida)
October 17, 1997, Friday, FINAL EDITION
MONKEY BITE LANDS OWNER IN COURT

BY: Christine Stapleton

WEST PALM BEACH - After debate about Ringo's health, Ringo's bite and Ringo's lonesome owner, County Judge Nelson Bailey scheduled a May 5 trial for Ringo's former master, James Beekman.

Beekman, 32, faces five misdemeanor charges stemming from a close encounter between Ringo, his pigtailed macaque monkey, and 4-year-old Catherine Brewster Sept. 22, 1996, outside a Worth Avenue shop where the girl's mother works. Beekman told the judge Thursday that the girl's mother "begged" him to stop and let her daughter see Ringo.

Catherine's family reported the injury later, after Debra Brewster noticed a mark on her daughter's arm. Ringo initially tested positive for Herpesvirus simiae, a herpes B virus that can kill people.

However, Gayle Martin, an investigator with the public defender's office, told Bailey on Thursday that subsequent tests showed the monkey did not have the virus. Beekman, a car detailer who lives in Palm Beach, said reports that the monkey was ill and publicity about the case have "just wrecked my whole life."

Beekman, who said Ringo slept in his bed and ate off his plate, faces charges of failing to control wildlife, possessing wildlife without the proper permit and documentation and trying to sell wildlife without the proper permit. The monkey was captured and turned over to a veterinarian.

Assistant State Attorney Jason McGrath said he has not ruled out asking for jail time if Beekman is convicted.

THE HARTFORD COURANT
August 8, 1997 Friday, 2 WEST CENTRAL

PET MONKEY BITES NEIGHBOR; WILL BE QUARANTINED, OBSERVED FOR 14 DAYS

BY: KEN BYRON; Courant Correspondent

PLAINVILLE -- Jane Teffs had just handed her grandson back to her son after babysitting him Wednesday afternoon when another small creature jumped into her arms.

While the brown and gray Java monkey was cute, it was not nearly as welcome as her grandson. After grabbing her hair it bit Teffs' right arm, taking out a small bit of flesh, police said. "I'm still in shock," said Teffs, of 7 Hollis Lane.

"He just came forward so fast and boom, he took a piece out of my arm," she said.

The monkey, named Springer, is owned by Jason Bailey, 23, of 38 Betsy Road, which is near Hollis Lane.

Bailey's sister Jennifer was taking Springer for a walk on Hollis Lane that afternoon when he jumped out of her arms and raced into Teffs' yard.

Teffs was standing in the yard with her husband, David. The monkey jumped onto her head and she tried to pull it off. After hopping to the ground, the monkey ran toward David Teffs. But then he hesitated, jumped onto their car and from there lunged at Jane Teffs. The monkey was not on a leash.

"I was trying to get the monkey out of my hair," she said. "I was screaming and screaming and people were hollering."

If Teffs was scared, the feeling might have been mutual. With people yelling and waving their arms, the monkey may have bitten Teffs out of fear, said Gabriele Paciotti, the town's animal control officer.

"I don't know why it would have jumped out of the girl's arms and it may have just wanted to sit on the lady's head," Paciotti said.

State law requires any animal that has bitten someone be quarantined for 14 days for observation. The incarcerated monkey has been a docile guest at the town animal pound, Paciotti said.

Teffs said she is taking antibiotics and will consult her doctor today. Randall Nelson, a veterinarian and epidemiologist for the state Department of Public Health, said it is unlikely a domestic monkey would carry rabies.

"In most cases, pet monkeys live with the family and are heavily supervised," he said. "Their exposure to wildlife from which they could get rabies is minimal so the risk that they would have the disease is very low in this country."

Bailey could not be reached Thursday for comment. He has owned the monkey about a year, Paciotti said.

The Jerusalem Post
July 29, 1997, Tuesday

Monkey business
By D'Vora Ben Shaul

I have never really understood the passion for keeping monkeys, especially since it is rare to find one in a private home that enjoys the proper facilities and care. But keep them people do, and I have received a number of letters about the problems of having monkeys as pets.

One couple writes that the young spider monkey they received about six months ago doesn't seem particularly healthy. "Its fur is scruffy although it grooms itself constantly and it has a cough." The first problem here is the cough. Since you know nothing about the conditions the monkey was kept in before you got it, you should realize that captive primates are very susceptible to tuberculosis, and you should have it checked by your veterinarian at once. Tuberculosis is an infectious disease, so do not delay.

The scruffy hair could be a result of diet or might indicate lice or fleas. Check for fleas on the monkey's belly and thighs. Nits - louse eggs that attach themselves to the fur like tiny pearly droplets- are easy to spot.

As for diet, it is a rare domestic primate that gets a proper diet. Most people think plenty of bananas is adequate fare. The spider monkey should get a wide selection of fruits, vegetables and nuts every day. Give it some hard-boiled eggs and a small portion of cooked rice with bits of cooked chicken, sort of a pilaf. And don't forget, if the monkey is still growing, it is definitely a juvenile and needs vitamins A plus D and some calcium. Both are available in pharmacies and pet shops.

Another reader has a vervet monkey and complains that it bites and soils the house. As for the last complaint, monkeys do not take easily to toilet training and a diaper is advisable when they are out of their cage. As for biting, any monkey will bite if frightened or annoyed. This is why they are such undesirable pets, even for adults.

Most home-kept primates are not warm enough in winter. Their body mass is extremely small in comparison with their body surface and they give off excess heat rapidly. They do better in summer, but need warm moist air, not hamsin conditions with low humidity. They are, after all, tropical animals and they need a controlled climate. Few people can provide this in the home. Nor can most people, however well-intentioned, provide a monkey with the
amount of living space it needs. Also, monkeys are curious and need a constant supply of things to interest and entertain them. They need to explore and investigate objects to be content, particularly since most of them are like prisoners that have been condemned to a lifetime of solitary confinement. My advice to readers is to keep a domestic animal other than a monkey, but if you do have one as a pet, then try at least to give it what it needs to have a reasonably comfortable captivity.

GRAPHIC: Photo: While they may be lovable, primates require conditions most people are unable to provide in their homes. (Credit: Leora Cheshin)

The Times Union (Albany, NY)
July 22, 1997, Tuesday, THREE STAR EDITION

Pet monkey goes ape in Albany reptile store

BY: LARA JAKES AND BRUCE A. SCRUTON; Staff writers

Albany Owners left him alone while at funeral; animal rights activists question conditions inside shop

Curious George he wasn't, but destructive Gus he became.

A pet capuchin monkey, left alone for the weekend inside the Albany Reptiles store at 216 Central Ave., drew quite a crowd Monday as he went on a rampage, downing potted plants, pet supplies and at least one gumball machine in the shop.

Monday night, the store and Gus' owner returned to find people still looking through the front window -- and a mess to clean up.

''We usually take him home. He's the family pet,'' said Jeremy Dufort. ''But we were going out of town (to a funeral) and left him in his cage here.''

The cage could not contain Gus, who is now strong enough to move the top boards and rock weights, although his owners didn't know it. Once free, the monkey began to draw a crowd. Dufort said Gus loves attention, often going to birthday parties, and the crowd ''began to get him all worked up. He just loves attention.''

Gus' antics may have delighted the ever-changing crowd of passers-by, but animal rights activists questioned the conditions inside the store. And there was some interest in a second primate face peering from a second-floor window.

On May 6, Inspectors from the federal Department of Agriculture found that the shop violated a slew of sanitary regulations and let its pets live in too-crowded and dirty cages, said Jim Ainscoe, peace officer of the Mohawk and Hudson River Humane Society in Menands.

Moreover, Ainscoe said, the store at that time had applied for, but not yet received a USDA permit to sell monkeys. After the May inspection, the store owners had 30 days to apply for a license to sell monkeys, Ainscoe said. The application process can take up to six months.

Dufort said Monday night the monkey on the second floor was a spider monkey that had remained locked in his room. ''He's slated to go to a wildlife sanctuary,'' he said, but declined to tell how he came to have possession of the animal.

Ellen Kiley, a federal Fish and Wildlife agent, and state Department of Environmental Conservation wildlife pathologist Ward Stone were at the store Monday night and confirmed the upstairs ''tenant'' is a spider monkey.

They had a tour of the store with Dufort and came out to say they saw no obvious violations of state or federal laws. Stone said there were some items he needed to research and confer with EnCon law enforcement officers.

''I do have some concerns about a couple of possums in a cage,'' he said, adding that Dufort explained they were brought to the store by neighbors.

''They appear to be old enough to live on their own,'' he said.

''Sometimes you can go in there and find the conditions to be fairly clean,'' Ainscoe said. ''But there are gaps of time that exits between one cleaning and another. When you walk in the store, the first thing that hits you is the odor of fecal matter from the ferrets and rabbits.''

The Humane Society periodically conducts surprise inspections of the store, about which they often receive complaints regarding the crowded and dirty conditions of ferret and rabbit cages, Ainscoe said. The last such inspection was July 14, which the store passed, he said. USDA officials could not immediately be reached Monday.

The exotic pet store sells several varieties of snakes, one of which was apparently accidentally released by the monkey, along with lizards, ferrets and rabbits. There also are at least one chinchilla and some small mammals from Australia. The store was bought by the Duforts less than two years ago, according to former store owner Tom Hallenbeck.

The Capital (Annapolis, MD.)
July 21, 1997, Monday

Bite from monkey forces girl to receive rabies shots

BY: By PAUL STEPHENS Staff Writer

A 6-year-old Pasadena girl is undergoing a series of rabies shots after she was bitten on the cheek by a pet monkey.

Samantha Shafer received a small puncture wound to her cheek July 12 after a monkey the girl was standing next to apparently panicked when it was startled at the Earleigh Heights Volunteer Fire Department carnival in Severna Park.

The animal is owned by Steven Ritterspech of Pasadena, who brought the monkey to the carnival. Samantha's mother, Michele Schafer, said her daughter was originally taken to North Arundel Hospital in Glen Burnie.

After the medical staff there applied ointment to the wound, she was taken to Johns Hopkins Medical Center.

She received six shots during one visit to the hospital Tuesday. The girl received one shot in her face, two in her right arm, one in her left arm and one in each leg.

"She didn't cry once," Mrs. Schafer said.

Mrs. Schafer said Mr. Ritterspech has been apologetic and has called the family frequently to check on the girl. He couldn't be reached for comment.

The monkey, named Jamie, is being kept in quarantine by county Animal Control officials.

Daniel Strickland, an Animal Control officer, said the monkey was tested by a veterinarian at the Baltimore Zoo to make sure it didn't infect the child with a virus. He said those tests had come back negative for any viruses.

The girl will have to undergo additional shots if the monkey is found to have a specific virus. The monkey will be kept in quarantine until Aug. 14, Mr. Strickland said.

He said Mr. Ritterspech had the proper permits to possess the animal. No action will be taken against the owner.

There are also no plans to destroy the monkey. Mr. Strickland said the animal was under control at the time of the incident. He described what happened as "purely an accident."

Officials at the Earleigh Heights fire company couldn't be reached for comment.

Kennebec Journal (Augusta, ME)
July 11, 1997 Friday

Monkey Mookie in the slammer for biting woman

BY: By WILL BARTLETT Guy Gannett Service

BRIDGTON - For the past two years Mookie the monkey was Brid gton's version of Curious George.

Like the storybook character, Mookie went everywhere with his owner, Karen Hawkins. He went to restaurants and stores, and into classrooms when Hawkins gave lectures on primates. 'He's with me 24 hours a day,' said Hawkins, a horse farmer who also works as a state foster mother. 'I have never left him, except to go outside in the winter to do chores on the farm.'

But because of an incident in a supermarket check-out line, Mookie was sent away Wednesday, leaving Hawkins distraught over the loss of her beloved capuchin.

The Maine Warden Service confiscated Mookie, and a squirrel monkey that was living with Hawkins, after Police Chief Robert Bell reported that Mookie bit and scratched a woman July 3 in the check-out line at the AG Supermarket on Main Street.

Game Warden Neal Wykes said Hawkins lacked the necessary state permits. Mookie's permit expired in March 1996, and the other monkey, belonging to a Virginia man, had no permit.

Wykes said that even with permits, monkeys are not allowed in stores or other public places.

'Our main purpose in jumping on this case is from a public health standpoint,' Wykes said. 'These monkeys are being exposed to the general public, and now we have an incident where it bit somebody. (Monkeys) are known carriers of a couple of types of (tuberculosis).'

Hawkins denies that Mookie bit the woman. She said she caught the six-pound monkey the instant he jumped on the woman's head.

She said Mookie did bite a child a year and a half ago, when she was giving a presentation at Denmark Elementary School. But she said he's had all his shots and she is always careful to warn people not to come too close.

'It's like someone has taken my 2-year-old kid and locked him up in a room somewhere,' Hawkins said.

She and her lawyer, Janice Sullivan, tried to get the monkey back, promising to keep him away from the public.

But as far as the state is concerned, 'the case is pretty much closed,' said Dale Clark of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. 'We don't usually even give people permits for monkeys at all.'

Hawkins got her original permit because she said her monkey was being trained to help handicapped people, through the Helping Hands organization of Brookline, Mass. But Jean Amaral, a spokeswoman for that group, said it is not working with Hawkins.

'It appears it is more of a pet than any kind of medical benefit,' Wykes said. 'She has no control over the monkey and it jumps on people. If there is more than just this incident, I would question its benefits as far as being a therapeutic monkey.'

Hawkins, however, said she is an expert on primates, and did research for two years before deciding to take in Mookie.

The monkey was taken from Hawkins on Monday and held at the Bridgton Veterinary Hospital until Wednesday, when he was sent to the Wise Monkey Sanctuary in New Port Richey, Fla.

The owner of the squirrel monkey is driving from Virginia this week to reclaim his pet.

Hawkins said Wednesday afternoon that she is familiar with the Wise Monkey Sanctuary, and that she feels Mookie will be safe there.

But she is so angry with the way she was treated, she is moving out of Maine. 'I hope to someday be near Mookie,' she said. 'In the meantime, at least I know he's safe.'

Portland Press Herald (Maine)
July 10, 1997, Thursday

WOMAN UPSET AFTER STATE TAKES PET MONKEY;
OFFICIALS CONFISCATE 'MOOKIE' AFTER THE CAPUCHIN REPORTEDLY BIT AND SCRATCHED A PERSON IN A SUPERMARKET.

BY: Will Bartlett News Assistant

For the past two years Mookie the monkey was Bridgton's version of Curious George.

Like the storybook character, Mookie went everywhere with his owner, Karen Hawkins. He went to restaurants and stores, and into classrooms when Hawkins gave lectures on primates.

''He's with me 24 hours a day,'' said Hawkins, a horse farmer who also works as a state foster mother. ''I have never left him, except to go outside in the winter to do chores on the farm.''

But because of an incident in a supermarket check-out line, Mookie was sent away Wednesday, leaving Hawkins distraught over the loss of her beloved capuchin.

The Maine Warden Service confiscated Mookie and a squirrel monkey that was living with Hawkins after Police Chief Robert Bell reported that Mookie bit and scratched a woman July 3 in the check-out line at the AG Supermarket on Main Street.

Game Warden Neal Wykes said Hawkins lacked the necessary state permits. Mookie's permit expired in March 1996, and the other monkey, belonging to a Virginia man, had no permit.

Wykes said that even with permits, monkeys are not allowed in stores or other public places.

''Our main purpose in jumping on this case is from a public health standpoint,'' Wykes said. ''These monkeys are being exposed to the general public, and now we have an incident where it bit somebody. (Monkeys) are known carriers of a couple of types of (tuberculosis).''

Hawkins denies that Mookie bit the woman. She said she caught the 6-pound monkey the instant he jumped on the woman's head.

She said Mookie did bite a child a year and a half ago, when she was giving a presentation at Denmark Elementary School. But she said he's had all his shots and she is always careful to warn people not to come too close.

''It's like someone has taken my 2-year-old kid and locked him up in a room somewhere,'' Hawkins said.

She and her lawyer, Janice Sullivan, tried to get the monkey back, promising to keep him away from the public.

But as far as the state is concerned, ''the case is pretty much closed,'' said Dale Clark of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. ''We don't usually even give people permits for monkeys at all.''

Hawkins got her original permit because she said her monkey was being trained to help handicapped people through the Helping Hands organization of Brookline, Mass. But Jean Amaral, a spokeswoman for that group, said it is not working with Hawkins.

''It appears it is more of a pet than any kind of medical benefit,'' Wykes said. ''She has no control over the monkey and it jumps on people. If there is more than just this incident, I would question its benefits as far as being a therapeutic monkey.''

Hawkins, however, said she is an expert on primates and did research for two years before deciding to take in Mookie.

The monkey was taken from Hawkins on Monday and held at the Bridgton Veterinary Hospital until Wednesday, when he was sent to the Wise Monkey Sanctuary in New Port Richey, Fla.

The owner of the squirrel monkey is driving from Virginia this week to reclaim his pet.

Hawkins said Wednesday afternoon that she is familiar with the Wise Monkey Sanctuary, and that she feels Mookie will be safe there.

But she is so angry with the way she was treated, she is moving out of Maine. ''I hope to someday be near Mookie,'' she said. ''In the meantime, at least I know he's safe.''

The Houston Chronicle
June 22, 1997, Sunday 2 STAR EDITION
Darling - but dangerous;

Sales of wild animals flourish in Texas because high-powered lobbyists and public interest in exotic 'pets' fuel the market - despite dangers to humans and animals alike.

BY: JAMES PINKERTON, Houston Chronicle Rio Grande Valley Bureau

BOERNE - All but concealed in a tangle of oak and cedar outside this quaint Hill Country town, Lynn Cuny runs an orphanage for cougars, bobcats and jaguars, wolves, alligators and a host of other "pets" that their owners couldn't handle.

"You show some unassuming, unaware member of the public this little cub that is spotted, has blue eyes and chirps like a bird, and they'll write a check easily," said Cuny, who founded the nonprofit Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation Inc. 20 years ago.

"And they're told, 'Yes, they get a little larger, but they stay very compatible with your family members. And they'll like to play with the (other) pets. And if you don't treat them rough, and spend a lot of time with them, they'll act like a big dog.'

"Which is an absolute lie."

A hundred and fifty miles away, at Zutu Exotics, a three-acre animal farm outside Hearne, Rudy Ryder sells cuddly black panther cubs for $ 2,500 each.

"The main people who buy from us are people who have a lot of money," Ryder said. "They have a lot of money, they'll put some habitat around their home, and have their friends come over to have a martini and watch the cats."

Ryder and Cuny are on opposite sides of a growing debate over Texas' booming exotic animal trade. The rhetoric grows more heated each time a child is mauled by an animal whose owner couldn't control it.

"There is not hardly anything good that can happen from having a big cat in private hands," said Jim Stinebaugh, a longtime U.S. Fish and Wildlife agent stationed in San Antonio. "Even if you don't care about the animals, it could end up in a tragedy where a human gets hurt. With all the young'uns around, they are going to get hurt."

In Austin this year, the influence of private animal owners and breeders prevailed. Lobbyists blocked a legislative effort to bring some regulation to the trade. The bill, unanimously approved in the state Senate, was held up in a House committee and never saw a vote.

Ryder and other breeders contend the industry is adequately policed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"They're not going to tell me what I'm going to breed, no, that's my constitutional right," he said. "Don't tell me you're going to come in and take my animals because I won't spay or neuter them.

"That's the state (of Texas) trying to do what the government has been trying to do to us all along, and that's screw us."

Ryder also proudly noted his own screening of prospective buyers. He tries to weed out drug dealers, who buy big cats to protect their merchandise, and canned hunt promoters looking for older animals. He also avoids adults in their 20s, who tend to be impulse buyers likely to return the animal, and won't sell a big cat to a family with children.

"Last night a man called me, an idiot from Houston, who wants to get his daughter a unique gift, and the girl is 4 years old," said Ryder. "So he wants a baby African lion because he always wanted one as a child. I said, 'Where are you going to keep him?' And he said they were going to keep it in the house and would that be a problem?

"I said 'Yes, he's going to eat her.' "

Ryder said he advised the man to buy his daughter a stuffed toy.

The current state law requiring owners of exotic animals to register with the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife expires in September. After that, Texans living in unincorporated areas or in cities without restrictive ordinances will be free to purchase a lion, tiger - or, yes, even a bear - and bring it home.

State Sen. Mike Moncrief, D-Fort Worth, who sponsored the unsuccessful legislation, said that is what his proposal was all about.

"Somehow the bill was misrepresented as a animal rights bill. It wasn't; it was a public safety bill," Moncrief said after the session. "We can always take the wildlife out of the wild, but we can never take the wild out of the wildlife."

The senator's staff has assembled details on recent maulings by wild animals, including several that occurred while the bill was being considered by the Legislature.

The list is long and grisly:

March 12: A 13-year-old boy was attacked by a tiger and lion kept in a cage built onto the side of his grandfather's home near Caldwell. "My son was not mauled," Jodie Grubbs Jr. told the Bryan-College Station Eagle. "He was being eaten alive." The boy spent a week in the hospital, but did not suffer permanent damage.

April 3: Two-year-old James Ramos Austin was rushed to a hospital after he was attacked by a male bobcat, one of two in violation of city ordinance in the north Dallas home of his mother's boyfriend. Animal control workers investigating the attack said the boy - who was bitten on the cheek, finger and heel - is recovering.

April 28: The mother of an animal care worker at a Luther, Okla., cat breeding farm was killed and partially eaten by a rare Persian leopard. The woman, who was visiting her son and not a trained worker, was alone at the facility and was attempting to feed the cat.

May 8: Big cat owner Gene Light of Lubbock was seriously injured when he entered the cage to work with one of his tigers. Light's son and a friend had to shoot the tiger - named Rufus - while his owner's head was still in the big cat's jaws.

Law officers often first discover potentially dangerous animals in their community when they arrive to answer an emergency call.

Last year, Ellis County sheriff's deputies were called to a private residence outside Midlothian after receiving a report of a tiger attack. They found an unlicensed breeding farm where a 6-year-old girl had been severely mauled by one of seven big cats on the premises.

The girl, Katie Baxter, is recovering from severe injuries to her neck and head, and a mauling of the arms, back and legs, said investigator John Goss. The cat's owner, Robert David McDonald, pleaded guilty to charges of endangerment of a child and was placed on probation.

But during the investigation, Goss learned the same tigers were responsible for three documented attacks on humans, including a 1995 mauling of a Dallas model during a photo shoot and the injury of a Houston man at a roadside exhibit. The two African lions and five tigers were taken to an undisclosed wildlife sanctuary, he said.

The story is all too familiar to Cuny, who opened one of four wildlife sanctuaries that accepts big cats in Texas. Spacious wire-mesh cages are home to four jaguars, 15 cougars, 23 bobcats, along with 70 monkeys, 27 iguanas, two alligators, 20 non-native birds, two wolves and nine hedgehogs.

"We'd have five times as many if we said yes and took in every animal we were asked to take in," she said. "The situation has already reached crisis proportions, and the fact of the matter is there is a large and growing trade in captive wildlife in the United States, and it is a particularly lucrative business here in Texas."

Staffers and volunteers at the Boerne facility care for the animals in large enclosures built around live oak trees and foliage on a 21-acre track with native brush.

The big cats, even if they are not declawed or defanged, cannot be returned to the wild because most were raised in captivity, Cuny said. They have not been taught to hunt and have been conditioned to seek out humans to provide food.

One of the oldest cats at Wildlife Rescue is a female jaguar that escaped from a dog run behind a home in San Antonio. The owner, at the recommendation of the breeder, beat the cat on the nose with a rubber hose in an attempt to control it.

At another cage, Cuny stood next to the wire enclosure but warned a visitor not to venture too close. Inside a full-grown spider monkey leapt from branch to branch, occasionally skirting the wire mesh.

"He's here because he put enough bites in his owner's face that required 16 stitches before he could talk and eat again," she said.

Cuny is disappointed the animal bill failed and said she hopes public awareness will grow and that another effort will be made in 1999.

But she knows animal regulation has powerful foes.

"Texas is a hotbed of this activity, and there are people here who are incredibly wealthy, and incredibly powerful in the government of Texas, that do this and make a living off this," Cuny said. "And between them and your average breeders and dealers and your roadside zoo folks, they are a very vocal lobby, a very powerful lobby."

Staff members of the bill's legislative sponsors - Moncrief and state Rep. Toby Goodman, R-Arlington - said the measure quickly ran afoul of some heavy political hitters.

First, they said, Fort Worth millionaire Lee Bass was concerned the law could affect his ongoing efforts to shelter endangered rhinoceroses on his South Texas ranch. As a result, rhinos were removed from the list of exotic animals.

Then, two former speakers of the Texas House turned lobbyists - Gib Lewis and Billy Clayton - worked to defeat the bill on behalf of private ranchers who raise exotic species for hunting purposes.

"And every time (the house committee) held a vote, they (Clayton and Lewis) would be standing right there, and they convinced five members not to vote to let the bill out of committee," said Peg Henley, with Goodman's office.

The bill would have regulated 16 types of wild animals - mostly big cats but including bears, elephants and great apes - and would have given county officials the power to inspect cages and set minimum standards for the strength, but not the size, of the enclosures. It also would have required owners of the 16 types of exotic animals to purchase a minimum of $ 250,000 in liability insurance to cover injuries to humans.

Still, many wildlife breeders see themselves as the last hope for many of the critically endangered big cats.

"People don't understand, especially these animal activists who think they know everything, that in the wild, the life expectancy of a big cat is five years," said Mickey Sapp, a San Antonio-area animal breeder.

"They kill them for their hides and bones, and now (poachers in Asia) have switched from the rhino horn to the tiger bones - they grind up the tiger bones to make an aphrodisiac. Tigers are about to be wiped off the face of the earth."

Sapp, who advertises big cats for sale in the newspaper, can often be seen hawking tiger cubs alongside highways outside of San Antonio.

"People like me, we are trying to conserve these animals, and we're one of the last few states that are allowed to have this," Sapp said. "I'd hate to see that right taken away from us."

Kansas City Star (Kansas & Missouri)
June 20, 1997 Friday METROPOLITAN EDITION

Biting encounter

Independence is dealing with some monkey business.

A pet monkey bit a 7-year-old girl Tuesday afternoon. A neighbor took the pet to Mahlon Newberg's home while his granddaughter was visiting.

"It reached out and took a hold of her and nailed her right on the cheek," Newberg said.

The girl, Jessica Smith, became ill later that night, Newberg said, and is now on antibiotics.

The pet's owner has two weeks to get the 6-month-old monkey, Sissy, out of town, said Jim Coe, an Independence animal control supervisor. Monkeys are considered wild animals and are not allowed as pets in Independence.

"Monkeys don't do well with people," Coe said.

AP Worldstream
June 05, 1997; Thursday 14:58 Eastern Time

Police kill pet monkey after it injures six people

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A pet monkey attacked and injured four schoolchildren and two adults Thursday in a crowded Beirut neighborhood before police shot and killed it, witnesses said.

The five kindergarten pupils suffered bites and scratches and one remained hospitalized with facial injuries. The other two victims were identified as a teacher and a passerby.

The monkey, Bob, had apparently unleashed itself and escaped from its owner's house in the Christian neighborhood of Ashrafieh.

It ran amok through two adjacent schools before it was chased into an abandoned building nearby, where civil defense workers enticed it with bananas laced with tranquilizer pills, the witnesses said.

But Bob took the pills out and ate the bananas.

After a three-hour standoff, the monkey climbed a pine tree. An off-duty policeman shot and wounded it with a shotgun. A second policeman then killed the monkey with his government issue weapon.

The Denver Post, May 16, 1997 Friday
1997 The Denver Post Corporation

May 16, 1997 Friday
Selling primates as pets sparks animal-welfare concerns - Summit to address issue next month
By Maryann Struman, Detroit News

YALE TOWNSHIP, Mich. - Christine Noble loves monkeys, so becoming a local agent for a Florida company selling the exotic animals by mail order seemed like a good deal.

What she ended up with is a dead baby capuchin monkey - still in her freezer as "evidence" in an on-going federal investigation - and about $ 5,000 in debt.

"I know I've made mistakes, but these people, they're evil," said Noble, thumbing through pictures of her "babies" - monkeys she bought as pets that all ended up with the Florida dealers Trade mostly unregulated According to federal officials, animal rights experts and scientists, Noble's case is symptomatic of largely unregulated U.S. trade in pet primates - creating problems with everything from smuggling to serious health risks to the public, let alone to the animals. The issue is so hot that in June experts from across the country will converge in Detroit for a pet primate summit hosted by the Detroit Zoo - one of the only U.S. zoos that will accept discarded pet primates into their colonies of animals.

"At best we would like to make it illegal to own primates," said summit organizer Scott Carter, curator of mammals at the Detroit Zoo.

"There are risks most people don't even understand that some monkeys carry fatal disease. I am most concerned about the damage they can do to a child. Almost every handler here has been bitten; bites result in nasty infections."

Even one of the only groups in the country that serves as a resource for pet monkey owners has reported the dangers of private ownership. Animals can be dangerous. A cover story in the Simian Society's March newsletter tells how an 8-year-old capuchin monkey - the same species seen in movies like "Outbreak" and on the television show "Friends" - turned on its owner in suburban Houston and nearly killed her, severing her thumb and part of her index finger and slicing her legs.

It is illegal to own a primate as a pet if imported after Oct. 10, 1975, under an order issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

Federal law allows the sale of domestically bred monkeys if the breeder or broker is licensed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. There are no federal regulations for pet owners - which some experts say presents a big loophole for skirting the U.S. Animal Welfare Act.

"One of the biggest problems is the definition of 'pet,"' said Carter. "If a person owns 15 monkeys, some breeders, are those 'pets?"' A lucrative business The illegal trade in exotic animals is lucrative, an estimated $ 8 billion a year, according to Interpol, the International Police Agency. Monkeys, for example, start at $ 2,500 and go as high as $ 75,000 or more.

Primates carry a host of diseases, such as tuberculosis, that can be transmitted to humans. Macaques, one of the most common monkeys for research and popular among pet owners, carry the Herpes B virus, which is fatal to humans. Of three dozen documented cases of humans catching Herpes B from monkeys, 23 resulted in death.

Still, few exotic animals capture people's hearts like monkeys. Dealers advertise on supermarket bulletin boards, newspaper classifieds and publications like the Animal Finder's Guide - a sort of Trading Times for pets.

That's how Christine and Mike Noble got into the monkey business.

"We've always had monkeys. But Mike had a heart attack," said Christine Noble. "These were big monkeys, it got to be too much."

After Mike Noble's heart attack, the couple decided to sell or trade their pets and acquire a smaller species. Demand is great Noble said the supplier of her monkeys, a woman in Florida, then recruited them as local agents for her monkey trade.

Everything started out fine. The Nobles quickly discovered that there's a huge demand in Michigan for monkeys.

A newspaper ad generated a waiting list of more than 200 people. "That was almost a year ago and I still get people calling me looking for monkeys," she said.

But as Noble found out, some monkeys are shipped tiny and ill.

"Baby monkeys really are hard to get as a pet, unless there is smuggling and illegal activities," said Dr. Richard Dukelow, a primatologist and professor at Michigan State University in East Lansing.

"There often are rare monkeys crammed into a small box, maybe filled with snakes. With animals stuffed into a sack, full of lice, not cleaned, no food and water."

Officials at U.S. Fish and Wildlife, which staffs 300 inspectors for 300 U.S. ports of entry, estimate that they catch less than 10 percent of wildlife smuggled illegally into the country. But they try.

In one case, a federal agent posed in a gorilla suit to expose smugglers trying to purchase one of the endangered animals.

In recent years, as little as 7 percent of wildlife shipments were inspected, according to American Society of Primatologists.

Moreover, research labs and some groups purporting to be primate sanctuaries all legally sell excess primates back to the pet trade.

Michael Powell of Miami Reptiles in Palm City, Fla., a breeder who supplies monkeys, said it is hypocritical for state or federal regulators to require more stringent standards for monkeys than for people.

"In Florida," he said, "the minimum cage requirement to house a pair of capuchins is 8 by 8 by 12 (feet). I know poor people with bedrooms that are 8 by 8 by 9. It's crazy. Monkeys are here for our enjoyment."

"It's business and it has been that way for many years," said Powell, who is licensed. "If there are animal rights people who have a problem, I just say buy me out. I'm always for sale."

Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Texas)
May 4, 1997, Sunday NORTHEAST AM EDITION

Taming the streets; Animal control officers wrestle with exotic, wild beasts

BY: MATT FRAZIER, Star-Telegram Writer

It was her first day patrolling the Bedford streets alone when a call came in - a vicious dog was attacking another animal.

An upset family was standing in the front yard when the young blond-haired, blue-eyed animal control officer arrived. She got out of her truck, walked to the corner of the house and glanced into the back yard.

"At first it looked like a purebred wolf," animal control officer Lacey Pope said. "He had attacked a pygmy goat and gutted it. I looked at him, he had yellow eyes.

"I approached him with a restraining pole we normally use for dogs. He stood on top of the goat and growled at me. It was
protecting its prey. "

They used to be known as the town dog catchers, tracking down stray puppies and hunting gangs of wild kittens. But that was before exotic pets sprung into fashion and construction sites became as common as bluebonnets, forcing wild animals from their woodland homes.

A barking dog might be a change of pace for what are now dubbed animal control officers. Alligators, surfing opossums, ice-cream loving skunks, monkeys, hungry coyotes and wolf hybrids are among their daily challenges.

"It hasn't been just dogs and cats for the last three years,"

Euless animal control supervisor Kim Peckler said. "Exotic pets have become fashionable. All the new construction is driving wild animals into the city.

"People don't know how dangerous our job is now. We are just as likely to get injured as firefighters and police. "

Animal control officers ask that anyone considering buying an exotic pet research his or her city's ordinance to see which animals are allowed.

"Study the animal you want to be your pet so you know what you are going to get into," Peckler said.

Bedford's Pope can attest to that. When she arrived April 15 at the home, whose address is kept private, she discovered that the wolf hybrid was rail-thin.

The wolf hybrid's owner fed it dog food, which wasn't enough. The huge animal needed meat to survive.

Pope backed up and called the office for help. When another animal control officer arrived, the hybrid easily climbed a chain-link fence and began a 20-minute chase through the back yards of south Bedford.

The animal finally answered his owner's whistle and ran home.

The owner was fined, and the hybrid was confiscated.

And if it's not a wolf hybrid, it might be a tree-climbing iguana.

Haltom City animal control officer Dee Sanders had to dangle off the end of a fully extended firetruck ladder last year to snatch a 3-foot-long iguana from a tree.

"The tail is what you have to watch out for," Sanders said. "They can hit rather hard. You grab the tail and the back of the head at the same time. "

Jan Buck, zoonosis control specialist with the Texas Department of Health, said animal control officers are a "unique bunch of people."

Zoonosis is the study of diseases that animals can transmit to people.

"I admire them," Buck said. "There have been a lot of changes.

People are not satisfied with a dog or cat anymore, they have to have these strange exotic animals that they probably don't know anything about, can't afford, or can't take the commitment. "

Even though the work can be dangerous, sometimes brains are better than brawn. In Hurst, animal control officers acting on a tip decided it was better to let a resident help remove rattlesnakes and copperheads from his home four months ago. The snakes lived in an aquarium he used as a headboard for his teen-age son's bed.

"He could handle them," animal control officer Teresa Mills said.

"He just picked them up with his hands and put them in a sack. "

Shocked Euless residents lit up the police station switchboard four months ago with reports of two shotgun-wielding people being chased by police across Texas 183. Most did not see the monkey walking in front of them, nor the badges hooked to the belts of the two animal control officers carrying the tranquilizer guns.

The pet monkey made its way to Euless after escaping its home in Fort Worth. Animal control officers tracked it for two days over rooftops. After failing to tempt it with bananas, they tranquilized it and turned it over to an international wildlife park.

Then there was the alligator who was spotted sunning himself in North Richland Hills. He was likely an exotic pet that outgrew his cuteness, animal control officer Candi Henderson said.

"Probably somebody saw how big it was getting and decided to let it go in someone's back yard," she said. "We put snake tongs beside its head and then grabbed his tail. He would have bitten us if we had let him. "

They brought him back to the station, put him in a bathtub, then gave him to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Exotic pets are not the only problem. As new apartment complexes, shopping centers and superhighways invade greater Northeast Tarrant County, wildlife is driven into the streets.

In an ironic act of defiance, wild coyotes killed several goats owned by Grapevine/Southlake animal control officer Lawrence Hopkins.

"The coyotes are coming out in packs," Hopkins said. "There are three packs in Southlake and at least one in Grapevine. They've been seen walking around in broad daylight along Johnson Road looking for food. "

Coyote traps put out in Grapevine, Southlake and Keller are often found turned over with the food eaten.

This is the beginning of coyote breeding season. Animal control officers ask animal owners not to leave dog or cat food outside.

Sometimes an animal looking for food will even venture inside.

"I got a call to a Braum's Ice Cream & Dairy Store and found a skunk under the front counter," Colleyville animal control officer Debbie Wallis said. "They left the back door open the night before, and it came in."

Because skunks are natural rabies carriers, Wallis used a syringe at the end of a 3-foot pole to euthanize the skunk. It did not spray.

And then there are animal water sports in Keller.

"This whole place is unusual," animal control officer Jeff DeRosa said. "I got a call out to a man's house and there was an opossum surfing on his pool skimmer. It was just riding around the pool.

The man said he didn't want to tell me what the problem was over the phone because he didn't think I would believe him."

National Mortgage News
April 14, 1997
The Pet Monkey Doesn't Come with the Mortgage

BY: By Lew Sichelman

Immediately after the new owners moved in, food mysteriously began to disappear. But the way Ed Ferguson remembers it, it
wasn't until several days later that they found out why -- the seller had left his pet monkey behind.

04-06-1997
Africa News Service
By: Paul Ejime

Postcard From West Africa Pet Monkey Attacks Case Files In Nigeria Court

LAGOS, Nigeria (PANA, 04/06/97) - Monkeys belong to the group of mammals that not only share similar physiological traits but behave like man.

However, one pet monkey in northern Nigeria is reported to have carried this subliminal likeness to a ridiculous level.

According to the Kaduna-based official New Nigerian newspaper on Sunday, the primate in question escaped from its cage, last week, and entered the Sabon Tasha Area Courtroom, a suburb of Kaduna, in northern Nigeria.

Curiously, the monkey reportedly pounced on the court's register of criminal cases and tore to shreds pages 30 to 60.

Apparently, the court was not in session and after wreaking the havoc, the animal stole back to its cage through a broken window.

The incident has raised several questions and left the entire court staff, including Judge Yusuf Bamali in a fix.

To compound the problem, the monkey had been reportedly killed by its owner, apparently worried by the pet's unusual behaviour.

The unnamed owner was also said to have reported himself to the area court undertaking to bear the cost of the damage caused by his monkey.

Bamali set him free on condition that he could be summoned if the need arose.

Bamali was also quoted as saying the cases affected by the monkey' s act would be started afresh.

However, the newspaper reported, some observers smell "foul play." They are wondering how the monkey left intact all other courtroom documents and made for the criminal cases register.

Was this purely animal or human monkey business? This is one riddle law enforcement agents must now crack.

Arizona health department seeks ban on pet monkeys
03-30-1997
The Dallas Morning News

TUCSON, Ariz. - Arizona health officials want to ban future ownership of monkeys as pets because the animals can transmit serious diseases, including a rare but frequently fatal form of herpes.

The Arizona Department of Health Services has asked the Arizona Game and Fish Commission to amend its rules to add monkeys to the restricted wildlife list of prohibited pets.

The commission tabled the request at its meeting last week so it can study federal regulations.

The health department proposal would grandfather in those animals already owned but bar any future importation or transfer of primates as pets. That would bring Arizona into compliance with federal regulations in effect since 1975, and in line with several other states, including California and Colorado.

"It's been 20 years that the feds have had the rule, and I feel there really is a public health and safety issue, with animals getting out in the public," state public health veterinarian Dr. Mira Leslie said. "This is really kind of a disaster waiting to happen."

Primates are considered important for biomedical research because of their close genetic relationship to humans. But they also have been able to transmit diseases through bites, scratches, tears, airborne transmission, contact with bodily fluids and wastes and other handling of the animals.

This story appeared in the March 1997 issue of The Simian
"Judy's Story"
By Vicky Ferrell Shoemaker as related by Judy Perkins

In my years of caring for monkeys and writing about my experiences I have had quite a few "horror" stories to report. In many of my personal cases I blamed my own stupidity for injuries I sustained but in reality the main and most frequent reason for primate to human injury is that "primates are wild animals".

In my nine years around monkeys I have tried to find solutions to problems that arise when caring for our primates. I have tried to accept every view when it comes to how to prolong the one-on-one contact with them and I have hoped we might some day find a key to the dilemma. All I have seen at the end of most every story is serious injury to people and relocation for the primates they can no longer care for. I am saddened that I cannot reach people ahead of time so these instances are avoided.

The most recent case has really hit home for me even more so than my own experiences. A very good friend who has had monkeys for fifteen years and has been a member of the SSA for many of those years has been seriously injured requiring five hours of surgery to save her thumb, which was hanging by the thin skin between thumb and index finger. This was the worst of many injuries sustained during a one sided battle with a tame 5 year old, seven pound weeper capuchin named Scooter.

Last year Judy Perkins' oldest capuchin, an eight year old weeper named Max, slashed the calf of her leg. Judy has always taken her monkeys from indoor cages to outdoor enclosures in the morning and back in the evenings. Though her outside enclosures were extremely well equipped with heaters and fans in the enclosed section, Judy strove to keep contact with her monkeys as long as possible. She listened to warnings and was very careful to allow all her monkeys to exhibit normal monkey behavior as they matured. The only restraint the monkeys ever endured was an occasional collar and leash. The day Max bit her she was about to transport him. He escaped Judy's grasp and began to threaten her. As she spoke to him soothingly he ran past her quickly slashing her leg. The wound was substantial but did not require stitches. Judy realized she could no longer take chances with Max and began leaving him outside with his female cage mate, Michelle, also a weeper. Judy continued her vigilant care of Max without handling him.

Though Judy did purchase most of her monkeys many of them have come out of situations where the owner no longer wanted them. A few of them were left by their owners for Judy to baby-sit with Judy never again hearing from the owners. Scooter was one of these. Judy's husband has never liked the monkeys mainly because he feared them and the damage they could do. In spite of his dislike of them he had fabulous enclosures built to fit the needs of all the monkeys Judy took in. The final count was nine monkeys, two fifteen year old squirrel monkeys and seven capuchins.

Even with warnings from others and with that inner instinct that tells us different we tend to seize the moment with the primates we love and feel we know so well. Judy continued to transfer three of her capuchins in a regular routine. The morning of November 25 was just another routine day as Judy opened Scooter's inside cage to transfer him outside. Earlier Amelia, a four year old weeper female, had escaped before transfer but she was easily retrieved. Scooter had gotten excited when Amelia escaped but he had calmed down before Judy reached her hand out to transfer him. At least Judy thought he had. Scooter immediately jumped on her in a rage slicing her legs in five or six places. When Judy reached down and grabbed him he bit into her hand severing her thumb and partially severing her index finger of her left hand.

Judy's face was only inches away as Scooter jumped to her back biting into her back and arms as she struggled to free herself from his attack. Judy cannot remember the total episode but once she was able to escape and close the door on Scooter she realized she was bleeding profusely.

As is usually the case in such events, Judy was totally alone when this happened. She realized the situation was serious when she looked down and saw her thumb resting on the back of her hand. Though her body wanted to pass out Judy knew she must stay calm. She willed herself to keep her composure as she traveled through the house to the phone where she called her husband and fellow chapter member, Terry Minchew. Both people were about thirty minutes away. After the phone calls Judy passed out banging her head on the coffee table and breaking a monkey statue. The statue was shattered but did not cut her.

The scene Elton and Terry faced when they arrived was straight out of a horror flick. There was blood everywhere from one end of the house to the other. Judy looked like a slasher's victim. Scooter peered from behind the glass door leading to the monkey room showing his substantial canines daring anyone to try to take his freedom from him. Terry said she looked back as they left the driveway to take Judy to the hospital. Scooter sat in the window continuing his threat.

Judy did not want to go to a hospital for fear of the ramifications even though she was having to hold her thumb and index finger on with the other hand while she kept them over her head to stop some of the bleeding. She went to her doctor who immediately decided this job would definitely call for a plastic surgeon. They drove to the hospital where they waited hours for the plastic surgeon to arrive. The surgeon was horrified when he saw Judy's injuries but he said he would do all he could for her.

The surgery lasted five hours. The surgeon had to cut into Judy's wrist to pull the tendons back together. Scooter had severed all tendons, nerves and bone. The thumb and index finger were reattached and her leg wounds were stitched on each end. Though each leg wound was about three inches or longer Judy requested they be left open for drainage to deter infection.

Judy's left thumb was severed hanging by a small section of skin (notice the scar almost encirles her thumb) All tendons and nerves were severed completely. The index finger was stitched 2/3 around (note scar at base). We all like to think we can protect our monkey by hiding the fact that he has caused this kind of damage but in such a serious case it is impossible to hide the truth. The kind of damage inflicted by mature canine teeth is akin to serious knife wounds so most stories one could concoct would only lead to more investigation by authorities. When Judy walked into the hospital holding her thumb and finger on and bleeding from all parts of her body the staff knew she had not just slipped on a banana peel. I am sure the first impression was that someone had tried to kill the woman with a butcher knife. Besides there being no believable lie to tell, the injured must be sure the wounds are treated properly to avoid deadly infection. It is understandable that public and officials worry about these incidents. The thought of a child sustaining such injury is a horrifying thought to anyone.

If we do not teach and learn the extreme dangers of keeping mature primates we will only dig the graves for the primates who are in no way at fault for their actions. Keeping primates is not a game we can personally win or lose.

We are all in this together. If we do not work together to stop the delusions before we are hurt we will no longer ve allowed to keep primates at all. If we promote primates as anything other than the wild animals they are we only set ourselves up for more of those dangerous and politically damaging situations. Anyone taking a baby primate should only consider the long term care required.

I am not only hurt by the toll this event will take on the monkeys involved but I am frightened too. I have been severely injured but I did not fear for my life. If Judy had not learned how to handle the situation ahead of time she might have been killed by her beloved juvenile pet. This is no exaggeration. Had Scooter sliced her neck, wrist or other vital areas Judy could never have saved herself in time. Had help been a little further from her she might have bled to death before realizing the severity of her injuries.

As far as I can see Judy was just about as careful as she could possibly have been in relations with her monkeys. She allowed them to be monkeys, kept them in pairs, stuck to a routine, fed them a perfect diet and supplied clean and roomy enclosures. She wanted to continue relations as long as possible but she did not force relations in any way. Judy kept with a daily routine rarely wavering. I venture to say she tried to go by the book except for ignoring the cautions a few of us gave her. Even with my warnings for her I admit I was also hoping she might find a solution we could all benefit from.

Obviously nothing can alter nature. A mature monkey has an instinct for survival that cannot be altered. A canine reduction might have minimized the severity of Judy's injuries but Scooter's dangerous instinct would still have been to attack with all his being to get his way. When a monkey goes into this rage he is one huge weapon from teeth to tail. To be bluntly graphic I say you could alter a monkey down to an "earthworm" and he will still fight when in one of these rages. The more one is able to overpower him the more enraged he becomes. Extreme alteration only makes a confused and neurotic puppet that will still become enraged at you for forcing him to do things he does not want to do.

We can safely reduce canines if we can find a trustworthy veterinarian or dentist but the fee is too much for most monkey owners and procedures such as this are no assurance that the monkey will no longer injure us. A monkey with canines removed can still inflict serious wounds. A monkey without canines can remove large sections of wood, walls, table tops, light fixtures, windows, carpets and door jams. I know this for a fact.

We can speculate on the reasons for Scooter's attack on Judy. He had been giving her small signals for months. He began to look at her strangely making small gestures indicating a change in temperament. Had Judy taken the cues and quit taking chances this incident might have been avoided but our maternal instinct is to hang on to a close relationship as long as possible.

Besides, Scooter had never attacked before so Judy did not fear such a severe attack.

Unfortunately, wounds heal leaving us with a faded memory. We get the feeling we can handle the next situation better. Monkeys do not grant us the luxury of working out our plans" when the time comes. When these attacks happen we receive no warning before we realize we are in trouble. If one has never received more than a warning bite from a monkey one cannot imagine the loss of control in such a situation. I only wish I could impress upon people how there is no control on the part of the injured. When these enraged monkeys attack they hang on with arms, legs, and tails while they literally "rip" at any part of the body they can reach. They aim for places that might incapacitate their victim. If the victim is able to overcome their strength by removing one of their arms or legs they quickly grab elsewhere. There is almost no escape. The small size is so deceiving of the strength of a monkey. for those who feel their monkey is too tame and loving to inflict such damage I have video footage showing how tame, cooperative and loving my spider monkey, Kirsty, was before she reached maturity.

What are the answers? I am still searching and will be searching next year I am sure. I feel the SSA has come a long way in their efforts to minimize the devastating affects of misinformation and naivete. We learn from experience. Sadly we lose precious ground each time these attacks involve public officials, an unsympathetic public or others who cannot understand our plight. In Judy's situation she was lucky. She is recovering nicely from her wounds. Her thumb is stiff but usable. Though her leg wounds did get infected they are healing now. The scars will be bad on her legs but her hand scars are are thin and hardly noticeable. When Judy asked the surgeon why her hand had not become infected he told her he had spent 45 minutes with a scrub brush and bleach sterilizing and removing all flesh that Scooter's teeth might have touched.

Because of Judy's severe injuries and her personal situation we have had to relocate all nine monkeys. We have been lucky enough to find the most permanent places possible through the Primate Placement Network. By Judy's choice some have gone to Texas sanctuaries, some have changed states to live with others of their own kind and two have taken residence beside our spider monkeys in a brand new enclosure. Judy is very saddened by the outcome of this traumatic experience but she is happy with the homes we were able to provide.

I personally would ask that people do not take baby primates unless they can care for an adult primate. The majority of a primate's long life will be lived as an adult that requires much more care than the baby he originally was. Alterations are not the answer to the problems and should not be considered to be the solution. More than likely the adult primate will require a spacious outdoor enclosure sometime in his life. One might be required to tend an animal that will not allow close contact. To live with that situation is to be considered a good monkey owner. Every year there are probably hundreds of people taking on the responsibility of a primate never understanding what he will become in a few short years. I have met many new monkey owners only to lose track of them when their primate matured. My own chapter, which I have been involved with for nine years, had seen many monkeys change hands when their maturity caused problems. In one distressing instance the owners felt the best thing for their grown (but young) male capuchins was to have them euthanized. We have met many new and enthusiastic members who have come and gone. When we were lucky the monkeys were left in the care of fellow members.

I can only hope that people will begin to take primate maturity seriously before having to confront it. I think we should hear more "success" stories from those keeping adult primates without extreme alterations or inhumane control methods. I know there are successes because I am one of them. Having to keep most of my adult spider monkeys behind bars has not been all bad. We hug them every single day and we are able to watch all the cute things we enjoy about monkeys. I am sure most of us spent many childhood years staring into a zoo cage being entertained by those whimsical creatures we came to love so much. I am grateful that I am now allowed to have that privilege in my own backyard. I hope conscientious actions on the part of all of us who care will prolong my right to do so.

There is much more to primate keeping than in raising that precious little baby but it is not to be considered unfulfilling. With the Simian Society's Primate Care Handbook, monthly publications and video library we are one up on the problems for sure!

I hope to continue the story of Judy's monkeys in future issues with updates. So far all monkeys are adapting well in their new environments. Judy is handling the huge loss as well as can be expected. Skin wounds heal much easier than heart wounds.

Concord Monitor
Nov. 19, 1996
By: SCOTT CALVERT

Penacook: State claims pet monkey is a menace Owner says 'Angel' is harmless

Angel Hope Green, a spunky little monkey with an apparent penchant for biting humans, may not be long for its Penacook home.

The state Department of Fish and Game wants to get the 3-pound animal out of the neighborhood, out of the city and out of the state.

The department has taken Angel and its owner, Debra Green, to
Merrimack County Superior Court. Angel is listed as a co-defendant: ''One Capuchin Monkey,'' the court papers say.

The state alleges Green illegally imported Angel into the state and lacks the necessary permit to keep her simian companion in her Hobart Street home, near Thirty Pines.

A hearing on the state's attempt to seize year-and-ahalf-old Angel has not been scheduled yet. For now, both sides have agreed to a temporary restraining order that requires Green to keep Angel in her home and enclosed in a carrier whenever outside.

For Angel, this means no more running around the front yard, tethered to a leash long enough to permit climbing on everything, including the house. No more dips in the backyard swimming pool, and definitely, no more trips to the store atop Green's head.

But it could get worse for Angel. Fish and Game calls Angel a public health ''menace'' because the monkey has bitten at least five people, including a boy who lives in the neighborhood.

In court papers, the department requests permission ''to take custody of the monkey and to remove it permanently from the state, or otherwise to dispose of the monkey in a manner which will protect the public from further bites.''

Harsh words for playful little Angel, a male monkey whose "mother" dresses it in pink clothes and insists on calling him a "she." Green denies Angel is a public health risk. In a court filing, her lawyer, John Vanacore, notes Angel's teeth have been removed to prevent any further bites.

And Vanacore said Green keeps Angel confined these days. Before the legal trouble, Green took Angel almost everywhere with her, even inside supermarkets - until Angel was banned from the premises.

Green bought Angel from a Florida dealer for $3,500, not long after a motorcycle accident in which Green lost a leg and was left with limited use of one arm. She claims the dealer assured her New Hampshire law allowed her to import and keep a Capuchin monkey, considered by some experts to be the smartest type of monkey.

Green maintains Angel provides her with emotional therapy and may be trained in the future to perform certain tasks made difficult by her disability, such as reaching the top shelves in cabinets.

"The defendant has become strongly, emotionally attached to Angel, who provides the defendant with needed companionship," Vanacore wrote.

"The defendant's mental health will be severely jeopardized if, in fact, she is forced to separate from her monkey."

In an interview yesterday, Vanacore made the same point: "It would be another great loss for Debra Green if she were forced to give up Angel."

State law, however, is clear, department officials say: A permit is required to import monkeys into New Hampshire. Another permit is required to possess or exhibit monkeys. Green has never had either one.

Regardless, the permits are available only to people who want to
exhibit their monkey, whether for free or for money. They don't allow people to keep monkeys as pets, whether the animals have teeth or not.

"The policy of the department is monkeys are not pets," said Fish
and Game attorney Nancy Girard.

The state would have tried to accommodate Angel if Green had proof Angel was being trained to be a service animal, similar to a seeing-eye dog. But Green had no such proof.

Since a Monitor article about Angel appeared in mid-August, Fish and Game has heard from 10 or 15 other monkey owners around the state. All say they want to be in compliance with state law - without losing their primates.

"There are a lot more monkeys in the state than we thought," Girard said. "The people we've talked to ... say, 'This monkey stays at home all the time, it doesn't go out with us.'"

Because the law changed in 1992, people who bought their monkeys
before then will be allowed to keep them. All but one of the people who called the department said they can prove ownership prior to 1992, Girard said. The other owner has agreed to get an exhibition permit, which carries with it a number of requirements to keep pet monkey owners from using it as a convenient loophole.

Green bought Angel well after 1992.

Trouble began surfacing for Angel last spring. In March, a Market
Basket customer complained to Concord's health services director, Eugene Blake. The customer said Angel was "running all over the store and jumping on people," Blake wrote in a memo to the city council.

Before long Angel was banned from all grocery stores for health reasons.

Then in August, Angel's devilish ways seemed to reach a crescendo.

On Aug. 5, Blake learned Angel had bitten 11-year-old Tyler Marston, one of many neighborhood boys who liked to play with Angel in the front yard of Green's home. Tyler said the attack was unprovoked; Green said Tyler incited Angel by playing a game of "Monster" in which someone yells "RAAAAAH!" and Angel goes wild.

Fortunately, a checkup found Angel healthy; the animal tested negative for a host of communicable diseases, including AIDS and hepatitis B.

On Aug. 7, Blake reported, Angel was banned from Wal-Mart and Sam's Club following complaints from both stores.

On Aug. 14, Blake got a call from a woman named Cathy Cooper. Cooper said she had been bitten by the monkey in March at the Lahey-Hitchcock Clinic in Concord after Angel climbed onto her husband.

The next day Fish and Game learned about Angel from the Monitor
article, and in September the department initiated legal action.

By then Angel had reportedly bitten two more people, two children from Maine who met up with Angel at a campground in New Hampton.

(Scott Calvert can be reached at 224-5301, ext. 304 or by e-mail at scalvert@cmonitor.com)

THE ORLANDO SENTINEL
November 5, 1996 Tuesday, METRO

NICARAGUAN OFFICIALS KILL MONKEY THAT MAULED BABY

Nicaraguan health authorities have put to death a pet monkey that savagely attacked and disfigured a 6-month-old child, a newspaper reported Monday. Juvelca Yaosca Triguero was in stable condition in a Managua hospital after her grandmother's monkey freed itself from its leash late Friday and attacked the child with its teeth and claws, mutilating her face and leaving her unconscious, El Nuevo Diario said.

Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale)
October 17, 1996, Thursday, PALM BEACH EDITION
WILDLIFE OFFICERS FILE FIVE CHARGES; MONKEY'S OWNER MAY FACE FINE, JAIL

BY: GLENN SINGER; Staff Writer

State wildlife officers filed five misdemeanor charges on Wednesday against the owner of a macaque monkey that bit a 4-year-old girl on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach last month and later tested positive for the herpes-B virus.

The girl who was bitten shows no signs of the disease, which can cause severe neurological damage and result in death. She is under observation, health officials said. James G. Beekman, 31, of the 400 block of Brazilian Ave., Palm Beach, was charged with failure to protect the public from injury by wildlife, possession of wildlife without a permit and failure to maintain documentation of the source of wildlife.

Beekman also was charged with two counts of offering to sell primates without a permit - something he allegedly did after the biting incident, Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission investigators said.

"He placed calls out of state to sell the animal at dirt-cheap prices, but apparently was turned down, wildlife inspector Lt. John West said at agency offices near West Palm Beach.

Beekman, an auto detailer, will be mailed a notice to appear in court, said Mike Edmondson, a spokesman for Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer. If convicted, the monkey owner faces a maximum of 60 days in jail and a $ 500 fine on each count.

Beekman had been walking with the monkey, Ringo, on Sept. 22 along Worth Avenue. Debra Brewster was at work with her daughter, Catherine, and they came outside to briefly play with the monkey. Several minutes after Beekman left with the animal, Brewster noticed a bite on her daughter's arm, according to police reports.

Debra Brewster found the monkey through the town's Fire-Rescue department, whose paramedics remembered an emergency call a year ago about a monkey having seizures at a Brazilian Avenue apartment. That spider monkey had been bitten by a dog and later died, wildlife officials said.

The man who sold the macaque to Beekman in September 1995, James Anderson of Fort Lauderdale, said on Wednesday he does not think there is any danger the girl will contract the herpes virus.

"There is not one known case of a macaque monkey transmitting the virus to a human being in the public sector. The people who did get sick and die were lab workers where monkeys are put under terrible stress and the virus in them becomes active," Anderson said.

"The Health Department, game commission and the media have exaggerated this story, manipulated the facts and created an unnecessary scare," he said. "They allowed those parents to believe their child was at risk. The risk was zero."

The macaque came from a breeder in Miami, who has moved to Palm City in Martin County. About a dozen other monkeys are in the same breeding colony and may be checked by health officials for herpes-B, wildlife officials said.

Beekman has not been charged previously with violating animal regulations, but the Florida Department of Law Enforcement lists 12 other previous arrests, beginning in 1986 when he was 20.

Palm Beach Post (Florida)
October 17, 1996 MONKEY'S OWNER FACES FIVE CHARGES

BY: STEPHANIE ARTERO

WEST PALM BEACH -- Prosecutors filed misdemeanor charges Wednesday against a Palm Beach man who didn't have a permit for a monkey that has a potentially deadly virus and allegedly bit a child last month.

James Beekman, 31, will receive a mailed notice to appear in court on the five charges concerning Ringo, his pigtailed macaque monkey. Beekman, an auto detailer who lives at 446 Brazilian Ave., could not be reached for comment Wednesday. However, Beekman said previously that he didn't believe his monkey had hurt Catherine Brewster, a 4-year-old who played with Ringo on Sept. 22.

Catherine's family reported the injury later after Debra Brewster noticed a mark on her daughter's arm. The monkey was captured and turned over to a Broward County veterinarian. Tests show it is carrying Herpesvirus simiae, a herpes B virus that can kill people.

Catherine has not shown any signs of illness so far, officials say.

Beekman faces a maximum penalty of a $ 500 fine and 60 days in jail for each charge, said Lt. John West of the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission. The charges include failing to keep captive wildlife under control to prevent injury, having a macaque monkey without proper documentation or a state permit and selling or trying to sell wildlife without a permit.

Game officials said Beekman had tried to sell Ringo at low cost to potential buyers in Alabama and a midwestern state after the monkey bit Catherine.

The demand for macaques, which originate in Asia and sell for $ 2,000 to $ 5,000 apiece, has led to the formation of a black market, officials said. In this country, the monkeys may be sold as pets only if they are born in breeding colonies here and the owners obtain a permit showing they have experience with the animals and an appropriate place to keep them.

Ringo was born in Dade County on Aug. 26, 1995, in a colony owned by Mike Powell of Miami Reptiles, game officials said. That colony, which included 11 macaques, is probably where Ringo became infected with the herpes B virus, officials said.

Powell has since moved to Palm City, officials said. Game officials said they do not know if any of Powell's animals are infected with the virus, but added that Powell isn't trying to sell the monkeys and is keeping them in cages.

Powell didn't sell Ringo directly to Beekman: The monkey was bought by James Anderson, a Fort Lauderdale wholesaler, on Sept. 15 and then sold to Beekman one or two days later, officials said.

Both Powell and Anderson have the proper permits, but Anderson could face charges because he sold Ringo to a person who didn't have a permit, officials said.

Beekman has a criminal record dating back to 1986, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. He has been convicted of resisting an officer, burglary and shoplifting, state records show.

In 1994, Palm Beach police arrested Beekman after finding 138 marijuana plants in his apartment, arrest reports say. The charge was dropped after Beekman signed an agreement requiring him to submit to drug testing and to perform 100 hours of community service, court records show.

SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE
September 20, 1996, Friday, INDIANA

COUPLE STRIVES TO KEEP MONKEY

BY: ANN JACOBSON Tribune Correspondent

ELKHART - An Elkhart family is worried it may lose its treasured pet monkey "Andy."

The family discovered this week that city ordinances regarding pets don't provide for monkeys within the city limits - actually, the ordinance does not mention monkeys at all. Andy was featured in a Tribune story called "Monkeying Around" on Tuesday. Elkhart City Attorney Paul Eash said Wednesday that he was contacted Wednesday by Herb and Danette Wallace, who own a Japanese Snow Macaque monkey, asking for his help in being able to keep Andy as a pet in their north-side Elkhart home.

After the couple went to the city controller's office earlier this week to obtain a permit for having the pet monkey, they were told a few days later that there was no such license available, as monkeys are not allowed as pets within the city, Eash said.

The current ordinance states that "no person shall possess more than three domesticated non-exotic farm animals that are not horses, dogs, or cats, and no more than two of such domesticated farm animals may be of the same species," according to Larry White, associate director of the Elkhart County Humane society. He said Wednesday that the ordinance is difficult to interpret, making it difficult to enforce.

Eash said the definition of an exotic animal "is a poisonous snake, or a member of the crocodile family, or any mammal that is not a farm mammal that is not a horse, dog or cat."

The question of such common pets as hamsters, gerbils, birds, fish, and, yes, monkeys are not specifically referred to in the ordinance.

"Birds are not defined as exotic animals," Eash said.

Eash said that after hearing the couple's story about not wanting to give up the pet they have had for nearly a year, "I felt compassion about (their) monkey, so I said the best thing to do is to amend the ordinance."

The Wallaces are waiting to comment until the issue is settled.

Eash referred the couple to Ellen Krulewitch, council member at-large, who after hearing the Wallaces' story agreed to introduce an amendment to the city council at its Oct. 7 meeting.

If the amendment passes by council vote, it would allow for pet monkeys that are properly vaccinated, are non-threatening to others, and are confined as pets, to be allowed within the city limits, Krulewitch said. A second and third reading of the proposed amendment and a public hearing will follow at an Oct. 21 meeting of the council, she added.

Tulsa World
August 16, 1996 Friday FINAL HOME EDITION
Pet Owners Take Their Monkey Business Seriously

BY: P.J. Lassek
SAND SPRINGS -- Patricia Shaver is not blinded by fear.

The 51-year-old woman, visually impaired from birth, has spent the past decade surrounded by a species of primates that can carry a virus that is potentially fatal to humans.

Her monkeys have been her companions and have acted as her eyes.

They give her more joy and amusement than any other exotic or domestic pet she has owned. Because of their likeness to humans, dexterity and intelligence, primates are growing in popularity as pets, educational and counseling tools and aides for the disabled, she said. Some monkeys can even be taught sign language, she said.

But as with most anything, including owning primates, there is a health risk, said Shaver, a former Tulsa Public Schools elementary music teacher.

"The only way to lower that health risk is to educate yourself and act responsible," she said. "It is so important that the public be educated on exotics, because more people are owning them. " Shaver, who lives in Tulsa County near Sand Springs, is preparing to open the School of Exotic Animals in October. The school will teach people about the kind of investment they are making when they take on a monkey as a pet, she said.

Shaver has many years of practical experience caring for exotic pets, including monkeys. At one time, she owned a menagerie and operated Party Safari in Skiatook. Since then she has moved, and because of the lack of outdoor space her menagerie has dwindled to only a few animals.

Shaver said she is concerned about the recent "hysteria" developing around the possibility of humans contracting viruses from primates.

Earlier this year, health officials discovered the simian B virus in a male Celebes macaque, which allegedly bit a woman. The find has triggered a health alert across the state and spurred controversy over the public health risk of owning a pet primate.

The infected Celebes is suspected of biting a Creek County woman in February at an exotic animal farm in Bristow. The woman tested negative for the virus.

The virus is most commonly found in the macaque species, health officials say. There are numerous varieties of macaques. The Celebes is one of the larger, more aggressive macaques, said Pat Murphy, primate curator for the Tulsa Zoo.

Shaver, however, owns three long-tailed African Java macaque monkeys -- Shenanigans, 3 months old; Sarsaparilla, a 4-year-old; and Mr. Monopoly, an 8-year-old. She has owned a rhesus macaque monkey, which died.

Shaver's Javas are not professionally trained to aid the disabled, but she said they do help her.

Being blind, Shaver often forgets where she sets objects. And when her human said leaves in the evening, she leans on the monkeys for help.

"I can't look around the room to see where I placed the object. So sometimes I can tell one of my monkeys to find it for me. And they do," she said.

"Unlike a dog, monkeys can pick up anything a human can because of the fingers."

The Javas are left uncaged in the home when strangers are not around. Otherwise, they are confined in a cage inside the house that has a chute into a 14-foot-by-20-foot cage outdoors.

Both the Java and rhesus breeds are much smaller than the Celebes, but they are still macaques and susceptible to contracting the virus.

Although the risk of a human contracting the simian B virus is "extremely low," state epidemiologist Mike Crutcher contends that the seriousness is real.

Crutcher suggests that the best solution to resolve the public health risk to humans is to ban the sale of primates to the public.

Primate owners and a Tulsa veterinarian who treats exotic animals say the proposal is "ludicrous" because a ban would only bolster smuggling and black-market sales.

Veterinarian Dan Danner said that once primates are banned, health officials will no longer be able to control the potential health problems.

Danner, who helped create an internship at the Oklahoma City Zoo and worked for a private practice that treated exotic animals at Lion Country Safari in Dallas, said the issue of humans contracting the simian B virus from a monkey has been blown out of proportion.

Only a few cases of it have been reported in the U.S. private sector, he added.

The biggest problem with primates, Danner said, is not viral infection. It is trauma from bite wounds and the risk of bacterial infection, he said.

Monkeys are strong and have large canine teeth, he said. Like any animal, a monkey will bite, especially if frightened, he said.

Because of the biting, many primate owners, like Shaver, either remove the front and canine teeth of the primate or have the canine teeth ground down.

Danner said it is important to educate monkey owners on the proper medical screening to ensure that the primate is disease free.

Danner tests his primate clients for all potential viruses, including HIV 2 -- found in African monkeys and suspected of mutating into the African population as the AIDS virus.

"Eighty-five percent of the people who get monkeys as pets have no concept of what they are getting into," Danner said. "One needs to be prepared educationally and financially. Then you have to spend time with them. The more you spend, the better your return is. They can be wonderful pets."

Mary Myrick, an owner of an 11-month-old capuchin monkey and founder of the newly established Oklahoma Simian Society, said one of the biggest problems for primate owners is the frustration of caring for one -- not the health risk.

"There is no support system to help primate owners cope with raising a highly intelligent animal whose curiosity and behavior equals that of a 2- or 3-year-old child," she said.

August 3, 1996 Saturday FINAL HOME EDITION
Don't Monkey Around Viruses From Exotic Pets May Pose Threat
By: P.J. Lassek

Monkey business is bad for your health.

That's what state officials say when it comes to keeping monkeys as pets. As the market -- legal and otherwise -- for exotic animals grows, so does the danger of humans contracting viruses from their simian counterparts.

Earlier this year in Creek County, state health officials discovered a pet monkey infected with a virus potentially fatal to humans. The simian B virus, a herpes-like virus, was detected in a male Celebes macaque monkey after a Creek County woman claimed in February she was bitten by one of four monkeys at an exotic animal farm in Bristow. The woman tested negative for the virus.

The discovery of the infected monkey, however, has sparked concern over whether primates should be sold as pets to private individuals because of the public health risk. State epidemiologist Mike Crutcher said the virus can be transmitted to humans and is fatal in about 75 percent of the cases.

Exotic animal breeder Larry Armer, also owner of the infected monkey, contends Crutcher is just trying to get publicity by unnecessarily scaring the public.

"You are more likely to die from an airplane crash than from owning a macaque monkey that carries the virus," Armer said.

Armer's monkey is the first in Oklahoma living outside of a research facility or zoo to test positive for the virus, Crutcher said. That monkey is currently quarantined and not a threat to the public, he said.

The concern over the public health risk helped spur recent state legislation that strengthens the state's power over the prevention and control of animal diseases transmitted to humans, Crutcher said.

Health officials also have alerted veterinarians across the state to the existence of the virus and the health risks.

Crutcher thinks the best way to resolve the public health risk is to establish a law banning the sale of all primates, especially the macaque, outside of sales to research facilities and zoos.

Armer argues there is a health risk with just about every animal humans come in contact with.

"If we ban the sale of primates then we should ban the sale of other animals like dogs, which carry rabies," Armer said. "What about mad cow disease? It kills. " Armer said the chances of contracting the virus from the macaque is "extremely minute. If the truth be known, a human is more likely to transmit something to a monkey than the monkey transmitting something to the human. " Crutcher agrees the risk of humans contracting the virus is low.

In the past 50 years, the U.S. has only had 40 cases where the virus was found in humans, he said.

"Obviously there are a lot of monkeys out there with a lot of human contact with little transmission of the virus. But the concern is that if a human does contract the virus the consequences can be severe, " Crutcher said.

The macaque monkey, one of the more popular primates sold to the public, is the only primate to carry the simian B virus, Crutcher said.

The virus reacts in the monkey the same as herpes reacts in humans, he said. The monkeys have a chronic infection that does not kill them. But when the virus is active, it has the potential to be transmitted to humans, he added.

Armer said the monkey can also carry the virus for its lifetime -- 20 to 40 years -- and it never become active. Stressful situations such as transporting or being moved to a different environment can activate the virus, he said, although exotic breeders are aware of the virus and take every precaution to prevent stressful situations.

Armer said primates are popular because they are like humans.

Crutcher argues that the biological likeness between humans and primates is what makes the risk of contracting diseases so great.

Several illnesses such as tuberculosis and several intestinal parasites can be transmitted from primates to humans, he added.

"Primates are wild animals. They are not domesticated," Crutcher said.

Armer, 49, has been in the exotic animal breeding and sales for 10 years. He owned his first monkey at age 11. He has one of the largest exotic farms in the state mostly consisting of primates. He has 145 primates of different breeds, ranging in price from $ 1,000 to $ 30,000. Armer also conducts educational seminars across the country.

"In all the years that I have had contact with macaque monkeys the only case I know of where a human died of the virus was a veterinarian in Texas," he said.

Armer does not believe in research facilities and does not sell to zoos. All sales are to private individuals who are carefully screened, he said.

The primates sold are mostly used for educational and therapeutic purposes, he said. A spider monkey named Charlie, who gained national attention for helping children of victims in the Oklahoma City bombing, came from Armer's farm.

Armer said there is a blind woman in the Tulsa area who owns three macaques that aid her and she has never had a problem. The woman could not be reached for comment.

Crutcher contends the monkey business is lucrative and that a lot of primates are being sold to individuals who cannot properly care for them. Those situations create stress for the monkeys and health risks to owners.

Tulsa Zoo primate curator Pat Murphy said he is constantly getting calls from individuals who can no longer handle a pet monkey.

"It's a time-consuming, life-long commitment. Monkeys are wild; they aren't like dogs," Murphy said. "People should not own them. " The Tulsa Zoo has a Celebes macaque on display. Murphy said males in that breed have large canine teeth and are aggressive. Males can get as large as 30 pounds and females as large as 20 pounds.

Murphy said the macaque are real social animals and if raised alone by a human can develop neurotic behavior.

Marti Ayres, who alleges she was bitten by Armer's monkey, has filed a civil lawsuit in Creek County District Court against Armer.

Armer said he questions the validity of Ayres' bite claim. Armer said there was a dispute brewing over a propane bill Ayres owned him when she went to the farm and claimed she was bitten by one of four macaque monkeys. Of the four monkeys, one tested positive for the virus.

Kansas City Star
August 1, 1996 Thursday JOHNSON COUNTY EDITION

Man charged with abusing pet monkey; Gardner man, who once owned a cougar, denies the allegations.

BY: TONY RIZZO, Staff Writer

A Johnson County man who fought with Olathe officials several years ago over a cougar he owned has now been charged with abusing a pet monkey.

But Rheuben C. Johnson said that his monkey, Sadie, was treated well and that the false abuse allegations were brought by disgruntled former employees.

"She gets a lot of love and affection," he said. "She's spoiled here, more than most people spoil their own child." Johnson, 34, of Gardner, was charged in Johnson County District Court with three misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals.

He turned himself in at the courthouse Tuesday night and was released after posting a $ 200 bond.

All three charges involve Sadie, an 18-month-old macaque. Each charge alleges different instances of abuse between May and July.

The charges do not specify how the animal was injured, and prosecutors said they could not comment on evidence in the case.

The veterinarian who treated the monkey could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Sadie is being kept under the vet's care.

Johnson said Sadie had a few minor cuts and bruises that were normal for such an active animal.

Macaques are native to Indonesia and can grow to up to 30 pounds.

They are fairly common in the pet trade, said Kirk Suedmeyer, senior staff veterinarian for the Kansas City Zoo.

But they almost always end up overwhelming private people who try to keep them, Suedmeyer said.

"These are not pets," he said. "They are not domesticated."

He estimated that the zoo receives an average of one to two calls a month from people having behavioral problems with pet monkeys.

Cute when they are young, the animals become aggressive and troublesome for owners when they reach sexual maturity. Suedmeyer said people will try to have the animals' teeth pulled or have them spayed or castrated in an effort to keep them as pets.

"It almost always ends up with the animals being euthanized or abused," he said.

In 1992, Johnson was cited by Olathe officials for keeping a 200-pound cougar named Kiki in violation of a city ordinance controlling dangerous animals.

He fought the citation, but a judge ordered him to remove the animal from the city limits. He no longer owns the cougar, but he has other animals including dogs, potbellied pigs and a horse.

Each cruelty charge carries a maximum sentence of six months in the county jail.

Johnson's first court appearance is scheduled for next Thursday.

Daily News (New York)
May 18, 1996, Saturday
S.I. PRIMATE MAKES MONKEY OUT OF COPS

BY: By JOHN MARZULLI

A quiet Staten Island neighborhood awoke yesterday to a wild chase through backyards and over fences with heavily armed Emergency Service cops trying to corner a potentially dangerous fugitive.

But the monkey got away.

The ape antics started about 7:45 a.m. on Rockne St. in Heartland Village. "It looked exactly like the monkey on the show 'Friends,' " said Todd Rosenbluth, 21, who watched the action from his window. "It was small and cute and hopping around on the grass."

Rosenbluth noted that it also resembled the plague-carrying monkey from the movie, "Outbreak," but he tried to keep that bit of information to himself so as not to alarm anyone.

Four Emergency Service cops tried repeatedly over 45 minutes to corner the monkey, but every time they got close with a tranquilizer gun, the little fellow would take off. Finally it fled into some woods near the Staten Island mall.

"We never got closer than 25 feet to him," Kenneth Van Cott, an Emergency Service cop, said. "He was traveling really fast. He probably climbed a tree and we'll never see him again."

While police described the black-and-white creature as a spider monkey, Staten Island Zoo curator Mark Rich said the description sounds like a Capuchin monkey of the organ grinder variety.

"We have three spider monkeys at the zoo and no one has snuck out," the curator, Mark Rich, said.

San Antonio Express-News (Texas)
May 7, 1996, Tuesday
Monkeys to get homes in S. Texas - To be sent from Iowa months after seizure

BY: Tom Bower Express-News Staff Writer

Authorities in Iowa and Texas aren't monkeying around when it comes to the rescue of 50 South American primates that were seized in December from a Johnson County, Iowa, home.

Nineteen of the monkeys are scheduled to arrive in San Antonio at 2 p.m. today on their way to a permanent new home at Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Inc. outside Boerne, sanctuary officials said Monday.

Sheriff's deputies removed the 50 monkeys Dec. 16 from the home of a woman in Swisher, Iowa, about 10 miles south of Cedar Rapids.

The woman, identified by authorities in court documents as Sue Kriz, had a reputation among locals as a person who would take in any unwanted animal.

"When the county officials arrived at her place, most of the monkeys were malnourished and dehydrated," said Grace Trifaro, co-founder and spokeswoman for the University of Iowa Animal Coalition.

"The place was just a mess. It was just - you couldn't live there. There was feces and urine all over the place," she said.

According to news reports, three of the monkeys later died and one gave birth, putting the current total at 48. After they were seized, the monkeys were taken to the University of Iowa's Oakdale campus Animal Care Unit.

A legal battle followed in which Kriz was joined by her half-sister, who owns a Guthrie, Iowa, pet shop, in an attempt to recover the animals.

On Feb. 1, Johnson County District Court Judge Larry Conmey ruled that the 48 primates had been neglected severely and should be placed in animal sanctuaries or zoos.

The ruling sparked a nationwide effort to find homes for the monkeys. Anne Lahey, assistant Johnson County attorney, proposed they be turned over to the Association of Sanctuaries, headquartered in San Antonio and Sacramento, Calif.

Lynn Cuny, Wildlife Rescue executive director and president of the association, said arrangements are still being made for new homes, but it is hoped that some of the animals can go to the Performing Animal Welfare Society in California and to the Detroit Zoo.

Cuny said Wildlife Rescue is taking six squirrel monkeys, five owl monkeys and eight capuchins. They will join 37 primates already at the facility.

USA TODAY
March 25, 1996, Monday, FINAL EDITION

Gainesville, Florida -- A rhesus monkey infected with the herpes B virus was recaptured Saturday, two days after escaping from the University of Florida's research farm. The virus can be fatal to humans.

Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA)
February 28, 1996 Wednesday, KENNER
METAIRIE MONKEY FINDS NEW HOME AT ALABAMA ZOO

BY: By BOB ROSS East Jefferson bureau

Ajax, the vervet monkey who was impounded after biting an animal control officer at a Metairie man's home, escaped a possible death sentence and will live out his life at a north Alabama zoo, an official said Tuesday.

Animal control officers were dispatched in January when Kain Groue requested a permit to house an exotic animal. During the inspection of his home, Ajax bit one of the officers and the 2-foot-tall monkey was seized to be checked for rabies.

Blood tests confirmed that Ajax is disease-free, and a brief custody battle between Jefferson Parish and Groue ended quietly, said Bert Smith, head of the animal shelter.

Parish officials were concerned not only for the health of the animal control officer but also for Groue and his 2-year-old son, who both had been scratched by the monkey. Officials said Groue must either undergo a series of shots to protect himself and his son from rabies, or Ajax would be euthanized so that conclusive rabies tests could be performed.

Groue at first resisted, saying he was assured by the monkey's previous owner that it was almost impossible for Ajax to have rabies. But eventually he agreed to drop a threatened legal fight if the monkey could be returned to the zoo where he was born. Groue has begun receiving rabies shots, and his son has been seen by doctors, Smith said.

Smith said he checked out Animal House Zoological Park in Moulton, Ala., and was impressed with its credentials. Ajax was flown out Tuesday afternoon and should be at the zoo by today or Thursday.

"This really is a story with a happy ending because it really is best for that monkey to be with other monkeys," Smith said.

Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA)
February 9, 1996 Friday, KENNER
BITING MONKEY PITS OWNER AGAINST PARISH

BY: By BOB ROSS East Jefferson bureau

The center of a bitter ownership fight in Jefferson Parish is about 2 feet tall, with reddish hair on his head and back and a long tail.

His name is Ajax, and he is a vervet monkey. Until last week, Ajax lived with Kain Groue in Metairie.

But when Groue contacted parish officials for a permit to house an exotic animal, that's when all the monkey business started.

Ajax, who has scratched both Groue and his 2-year-old son and bitten an animal control officers, was seized by the parish and is at the east bank animal shelter, said Bert Smith, head of the shelter.

After checking with a host of veterinarians and Dr. Louise McFarland, the state's epidemiologist, and consulting officials at an animal rights group, Smith came up with this ultimatum to Groue: He and his son must undergo a series of shots over a month to prevent them from getting rabies, and Ajax must go to a primate center in San Antonio to live out his life. Decline the tests and Ajax will be euthanized to be tested for rabies and other diseases.

But Groue said he was told by the woman who originally owned Ajax that the chances of a monkey getting rabies are rare. He believes parish officials simply do not want him to have the monkey.

Smith said that's true - but only after concluding the monkey is a nuisance and a health threat.

And Smith said he talked to Carolyn Atchison, who owns the Animal House Zoological Park in Moulton, Ala.

She said the monkey might be one she sold to an Indiana zoo in 1994. But she also said it is impossible to tell whether Ajax came from her compound or somewhere else.

However, Atchison disagreed that the monkey might need to be euthanized and tested. She said monkeys rarely get rabies, and a blood test can confirm whether Ajax has rabies.

But Smith said he is relying on the expert advice of veterinarians he consulted. Atchison is not a veterinarian.

Neither Atchison, Smith nor animal rights officials disagreed on whether the monkey should live outside the wild. All said monkeys are social animals, not pets, who should be with other monkeys.

"Monkeys are not diaper-wearing critters," Atchison said. "Eventually, he may do this (bite and scratch humans) again."

For his part, Groue said he loves the monkey and has developed a rapport with Ajax. And Groue said he has no intention of taking the monthlong series of shots for rabies.

Instead, Groue said he intends to hire an attorney and fight Smith's decision.

"I'm going to do whatever it takes. This is just wrong."

Hartford Courant (Connecticut)
January 31, 1996 Wednesday, 4 EASTERN
VERNON TO HONOR MAN WHO ENDED MONKEY'S RAMPAGE

BY: GARY GENTILE; Courant Staff Writer

Matt Riley, the good Samaritan who two weeks ago corralled Coco, an out-of-control Capuchin monkey, will be honored at Tuesday's town council meeting for his actions.

Mayor Tony Muro will present a certificate of commendation to Riley, a Manchester resident, to thank him for capturing the precocious pet, who was on the lam from authorities after severely biting his keeper and escaping from the back of the animal control officer's van.

But to hear Riley tell it, he's no hero -- just someone who stopped to help what he thought was an injured cat.

On Jan. 16, Coco, a 10-pound monkey that resembles Marcel on the television show "Friends," went berserk and bit 18-year-old Pedro Arroyo of 23 Talcott Ave., who was caring for the monkey for his brother. Animal Control Officer Craig Segar and three police officers struggled to capture the monkey, finally catching him in a net and placing him in the back of Segar's van.

But Coco refused to be held and chewed his way out of the net, then escaped from the van despite having been nearly bathed in eye-stinging pepper spray by police officers.

Later in the day, Riley, vice-president and general manager of Dillon Ford on Route 83, was driving on Welles Road when he pulled up behind a stopped car. In his headlights, he saw a blur pass by and assumed the motorists ahead had struck a cat.

Being an animal owner, Riley opened his driver's side door to check on the injured pet.

"The next thing I know, the monkey went underneath the door and climbed into my lap," Riley said. "We were both startled. He put his hands on the steering wheel and one of his hands touched my hand. As I pulled my hand away, a natural reaction, he bit my thumb."

Riley yelled at Coco, who retreated to the passenger seat.

"He was shaking, like a little child," Riley said.

Afraid the monkey might be rabid, Riley drove back to Dillon Ford, about half a mile, and called police.

Despite his wound, Riley tried to calm the animal and fed it crackers. Soon, however, Segar, police and the media arrived, sending Coco back into a frenzy.

Riley shooed everyone out, took a cage and gently coaxed Coco back into captivity.

"I was basically being calm with the monkey, as if it were a child," Riley said. "You've got to feel a little bit of compassion for [it]."

Riley said the publicity has resulted in co-workers dubbing him "monkeyman" and other good-natured monikers. He said he is honored that the town will recognize him for his actions, but does not think he did anything special.

"I'm honored, but I'm sure there are other people out there more deserving than I for trying to help the animal," he said. "It's just a humane thing to do."

Although he has yet to be contacted by the producers of "Friends" for a guest spot, he did see Sunday's post- Superbowl episode that featured the return of Marcel.

The Patriot Ledger (Quincy, MA)
January 20, 1996 Saturday ROP Edition

Pet monkey escapes, bites truck driver

MANCHESTER -- A pet monkey led animal control officials on a chase from Vernon into Manchester after it bit its owner and escaped. Vernon Animal Control Officer Craig Seger said the monkey escaped from its home Wednesday morning and was captured for just a short time before tearing through Seger's net. A passing motorist saw the runaway pet and let it jump in his truck. Matt Riley said the monkey hopped onto his lap and then bit him on the hand. "I was scared, it was scared," Riley said. "I yelled at it. It got out of my lap, sat in the passenger front seat." The monkey was eventually recaptured and likely will be given to the Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport, Seger said.

Kansas City Star (Kansas & Missouri)
September 12, 1995 Tuesday METROPOLITAN EDITION
Dangerous chimp released to owner;
City and zoo say decision was the least regrettable of options such as euthanasia.

BY: MATT CAMPBELL, Staff Writer

A dangerous chimpanzee - confiscated by the city and caged at the Kansas City Zoo because its owner could not control it - has been returned despite the reluctance of the zoo and the city's animal control director.

Sueko, a 6-year-old female, has a history of getting loose and biting people. Officials say her owner also has a history of using an electrical collar as a punitive device, which left scars on Sueko's neck.

Given a better option, "I wouldn't have done it because I think clearly he (the owner) has demonstrated he cannot keep the animal under control," Janice Gordon, animal control director, said of the decision to release the animal.

Zoo officials said a ruling by the city's Law Department made the release the least regrettable of three options, which included euthanasia.

"It was a very difficult decision and one that really tears at the heartstrings of our staff," said Mark Wourms, zoo director.

"But when legalities get in the way of common sense, we have no choice."

Bob Mohart, director of the Neighborhood and Community Services Department, which oversees the Animal Control Division, said city lawyers "thought under the circumstances under which we got it, we probably should give it back and have him sign a release form."

The animal was released Thursday to owner Mark Archigo, whom police escorted to the city limits. He could not be reached Monday.

Shane Archigo said his brother does not have a telephone.

Shane Archigo said Sueko is outside the city, but he did not know where.

Gordon said Animal Control first became aware of Sueko in February 1994, when it received a report that she jumped on and bit a man, who required medical treatment.

Because city ordinances forbid private individuals from owning any primate, officials gave Archigo two days to remove Sueko from the city.

In January, Animal Control received a report that Sueko had bitten a 7-year-old girl in Kansas City. Because the chimp's
whereabouts were unknown, the girl underwent rabies treatments.

Archigo contacted Animal Control about a month later and promised to keep the animal outside Kansas City. But in March officials received reports that Sueko was running loose near 77th Street and Prospect Avenue.

A 6-year-old chimpanzee has the strength of three to five humans and is extremely quick and agile. Gordon told Archigo he would have to relinquish the animal.

"It's abusive to try to habituate them into human society," Gordon said.

Gordon said Archigo agreed to turn Sueko over. Faced with the alternative of putting her to death, Animal Control approached the zoo.

Wourms said the zoo normally does not accept wild animals from the public but agreed to take Sueko out of compassion. Sueko arrived at the zoo crying like a human infant and knowing none of the natural behaviors of chimps.

"We thought we could take this pet and convert it from its infantile behavior to behave wild again or more naturally again,"
Wourms said.

After a 90-day quarantine, she was introduced to a young male chimp and was showing significant progress.

But Archigo sought to reclaim the animal, arguing that he did not authorize the confiscation. City Attorney Kathy Hauser declined comment Monday, citing the potential for litigation.

But other city officials said they had three options:

Keep Sueko at the zoo and let Archigo sue the city. But if he won in six months or a year, Sueko would have been even more deeply integrated into natural chimpanzee behavior. That would have made her more of a threat and forced her owner to use even more extreme methods of discipline.

Put Sueko to death now so that even if Archigo won in court he could not reclaim the animal.

Release Sueko in the hope that Archigo would leave town and take care of her as well as possible.

Mohart said Archigo promised to keep Sueko out of the city but refused to sign a document.

"I wrote telling him if we find it anywhere in the city limits again we would euthanize it immediately," Mohart said. "And I mean it."

PR Newswire
September 8, 1995, Friday

DETROIT ZOO WARNS AGAINST KEEPING MONKEYS AS PETS

Pet owners may be bananas about primates, but the Detroit Zoological Institute (DZI) warns people to consider the risks involved with owning monkeys.

"People don't realize that pet monkeys are a health hazard. For example, macaques may carry the herpes B virus and monkey bites can lead to serious infection and scarring," said Scott Carter, DZI mammal curator.

Recently the DZI helped rescue a three-year-old spider monkey from an "enlightened" owner. The owner, Bob Dedic of Owosso, cared for "Magilica" since he was three months old. Dedic showered Magilica with attention and took him to the veterinarian for regular check ups.

"He was so cute and affectionate as a baby. But as he got older, a jealous streak emerged, and he started to bite," said 32-year-old Dedic.

Dedic, who thought it would be fun to own a monkey, recently received 17 stitches in his lower lip when Magilica attacked him.

"I tell anyone who wants a monkey to think twice. Monkeys may resemble humans, but they are animals with inherent behaviors that can't be controlled," continued Dedic.

According to Carter, not all zoos help pet owners find good homes for their primates. But the DZI is strongly committed to animal welfare, and was able to place Magilica with a Wildlife Rescue Sanctuary in Boerne, Texas. Over the years, the DZI has helped several exotic pet owners from Southeastern Michigan find proper homes for their primates.

Private ownership of a primate can be hazardous to the animal as well.

"Owners usually keep a single monkey which is eventually relegated to a small cage. But monkeys are social animals that live in groups in the wild. Also, many owners feed monkeys junk food. Nonhuman primates, like children, need to be fed what is good for them, not what they like to eat," Carter said.

According to Carter, keeping most nonhuman primates as pets does not break federal or state regulations. However, some cities and counties have ordinances against such pets. Carter cites circuses, exotic animal trade shows and exotic animal dealers for supplying the primates.

Carter is a member of American Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and serves on the Pet Primate Sub-Committee of the Old World Monkey Taxon Advisory Group. Currently, the group is working to restrict trade and
ownership of pet primates.

CONTACT: Lisa Viselli or Michele Scott of Hermanoff & Associates, 313-964-6644

Miami New Times (Florida)
August 10 ,1995
Monkey See, Monkey Do, Monkey Sue

How does a primate end up at the center of a courtroom battle? When animal dealer Matthew Block is involved, it's not so difficult

BY: By Kathy Glasgow

She is an ordinary three-pound monkey, a brown Java macaque (also known as a crab-eating macaque), languishing in a cage at a veterinary clinic just over the Dade County line in Pembroke Park. She arrived in mid-July after Pedro Diaz, who had stopped with his wife and daughter in Homestead to change a flat tire, spotted the monkey in a tree and coaxed her down with crackers. Diaz says he decided to call authorities to have the monkey taken away because he didn't have the required permit to keep her.

So here she is at the Pembroke Park Animal Clinic, which the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission uses almost exclusively as a holding facility for primates confiscated in South Florida. Like thousands of other macaques sold each year in the U.S. for use in medical research, this monkey carries identification: a microchip embedded in her upper body and a hole in her right ear from a now-missing metal tag. But she has acquired an added distinction: During the past three weeks, she has become the object of an odd legal skirmish between the clinic owner and controversial Miami animal trader Matthew Block.

The primate dealer, who gained notoriety in the early Nineties for his confessed role in an unrelated orangutan-smuggling plot dubbed the Bangkok Six case, claims the macaque at the clinic is his. He says he's certain she is one of 33 females stolen a year ago from his South Dade breeding facility, Worldwide Primates. Soon after a professional acquaintance informed him of the monkey's presence at the Pembroke Park clinic, Block and his insurance broker went to Broward Circuit Court and obtained a temporary injunction against the clinic's owner, veterinarian Terri Parrott. The court order prohibits Parrott from moving, selling, or "performing any surgical procedure" on the monkey, and allows Block to confirm the animal's identity through an electronic scan of the microchip, which he says is broken and will have to be surgically removed before it can be read. (The microchip was extracted from the monkey this past Friday and shipped to the manufacturer to see if it can be deciphered.)

But this fight is about more than a single $1500 monkey. Block has discovered that in the past four months, two other macaques he had reported as escaped or stolen also have been taken in by Parrott and later disposed of without anyone informing him. His insurance broker, Mitchell Kalmanson, who says he has paid Block thousands of dollars for lost or stolen monkeys, is furious. "There may have been another five or ten or whatever for all we know, who have been stolen and gone to her facility that she has sold and we never had access to," complains Kalmanson, president of the Lester Kalmanson Agency in Maitland, near Orlando.

Last week Block himself began inspecting files on primate confiscations at the regional Game and Fresh Water Fish office in West Palm Beach in an effort to determine if other seizures of his animals have occurred without his knowledge. As for getting back this particular monkey, Block says, she now legally belongs to his insurance company, and returning her to his breeding colony after a year would be very difficult anyway. "I don't want the monkey," he asserts. "Our principal goal in this matter is to work out a policy with game and fish officials so this won't happen again."

Maj. Kyle Hill of the state commission's law enforcement division in Tallahassee acknowledges that the agency's policy on animal confiscations is being reviewed in the wake of Block's vociferous complaints, which have been echoed by other South Florida primate specialists. Hill says "minor changes" may be forthcoming. In addition, the commission's chief of internal affairs says he recently launched an investigation into the current dispute over the macaque in Parrott's clinic and of the two earlier confiscations Block says took place without his knowledge.

But Dr. Parrott and Lt. Patrick Reynolds, the sole Game and Fresh Water Fish inspector for Dade and Monroe counties, say Block just wants special treatment. They point out he has an unusually high number of thefts and escapes from his facility (for which he is rarely cited, Reynolds adds), but just because he loses a lot of macaques doesn't mean every one running free or that shows up illegally in a pet store or a private home is his. Parrott, in fact, isn't convinced the macaque now sitting in her office is Block's. " We see a lot of monkeys that come in from other places that have been microchipped," she says. "Once state game inspectors release them to me, I assume they've done their investigation to try to find where they came from. And believe me, the ones who come in are not all Mr. Block's." In any case, Parrott says, "He has to show it's his. The burden of proof is on him."

Reynolds, the commission inspector who brought the macaque to Parrott's clinic in the first place, isn't willing to concede the monkey to Block, either. "His opinion is, 'Any animal that's loose is mine,'" Reynolds says with some irritation. "Any Java we come across he wants us to run it by him. We don't run a service just for him."

But Block and other South Florida primate handlers and veterinarians find it incredible in this case that Reynolds -- who in the past has searched for and returned dozens of lost monkeys to Block -- didn't immediately suspect it could be a Worldwide Primates escapee. "Anybody in this area who knows anything about primates would know if they had a macaque, they should call Matt Block," remarks Robert Cooper, a primate veterinarian and adviser to the DuMond Conservancy for Primates and Tropical Forests at Monkey Jungle in South Dade. (Block claims that Worldwide Primates is one of the nation's largest breeders of macaques, though he will not say how many of the monkeys he houses.)

The controversy began this past April when Parrott euthanized a macaque brought to her clinic after it was cornered in a tree less than a mile from Worldwide Primates. When Parrott ran blood tests on the monkey (her routine procedure), she found it tested positive for the herpes B virus. While 70 to 90 percent of all adult macaques carry herpes B, according to the Centers for Disease Control, the virus can be transmitted to humans only when it is in an active state in the monkey, and then only by contact with blood or other bodily fluids. But once contracted by humans, the virus is almost always fatal; those who survive suffer permanent neurological impairment. Parrott says she felt her only alternative was to euthanize the infected monkey. "I don't have an isolation facility," the veterinarian explains. "And here's this animal right in my office, right next to my staff. I don't need that risk."

Macaques, according to primate experts, are strong, usually ill-tempered, and surprisingly adept with their teeth. Parrott checked with HRS in Tallahassee and was informed of a state law allowing diseased animals to be put to death for the public safety. "So I put it down," she says. "No one told me I had to tell Matt Block. As far as I knew this monkey did not have an owner." Then Parrott had the carcass incinerated. (Volunteers who keep seized animals for Game and Fresh Water Fish aren't required to obtain commission approval before carrying out medical procedures, according to Maj. Kyle Hill; they're generally allowed to operate according to their professional judgment. If an animal is not returned to an owner, it becomes the property of the commission, which then normally signs it over to the volunteer in lieu of monetary compensation.)

Block says he learned of the death after an unidentified caller left a message on his answering machine. When he contacted inspector Reynolds, he was given the tattoo number of a monkey Reynolds said was at Parrott's clinic. Block identified the number as that of a macaque he had reported as having escaped this past April 3. Reynolds then told him the animal had been killed several days earlier. Block complained to Parrott and fired off letters to Game and Fresh Water Fish officials calling for a review of commission policy on seizures.

The incident quickly caught the attention of South Florida's small community of primate breeders and specialists. Many of them have a low opinion of Block because of his involvement in the Bangkok Six affair (he has been sentenced to thirteen months in federal prison but is currently free on bond while awaiting the outcome of his appeals) and because of past citations from state and federal inspectors for wretched conditions within his holding compounds. But this time Block got support from his peers.

Dr. Joseph Wagner, director of the University of Miami's division of veterinary resources and medical director at the Mannheimer Foundation, a local biomedical research facility that also breeds primates, joined Block's calls for clarification of the state's policy on confiscations. "If such an incident had happened with a University owned animal, I would be most unhappy, " Wagner wrote on June 9 to Allan Egbert, the commission's executive director. "Since the animal killed was reported to FGFWFC as being escaped and displayed a tattoo ID on the chest, it would seem reasonable that the animal be returned to the owner or at least they be contacted."

Later in June, Block got a call from a South Florida primate collector who had just bought a macaque from Parrott. Reynolds had confiscated the monkey from an elderly woman in Key West, along with other wildlife she possessed. (Eventually she was charged with three violations of wildlife laws.) Reynolds says he found no identifying signs on the animal, so he took it to Parrott's clinic, his usual practice when he doesn't know the legitimate owner. After a month, Parrott asked Reynolds for permission to place the monkey with a private owner; Reynolds says he gave her the go-ahead after being told -- incorrectly, it turns out -- the case against the Key West woman had been resolved.

Parrott then called Christine Scott, the collector who owns several macaques, two of which she had bought earlier from the veterinarian. Scott's husband drove up from their home on Grassy Key, paid Parrott $650, and took the monkey home. The $650 price tag, Parrott explains, was no more than the amount she had spent to keep the animal at her clinic. She never "sells" the confiscated animals, she says; they are "placed."

In any case, when Scott's husband arrived with the monkey, she saw, among the papers Parrott had provided, information that the monkey had tested positive for the hepatitis A virus (also common in macaques and dangerous to humans). Parrott's clinic was closed by then, Scott says, so she called Matthew Block for advice on handling the animal. Later she took the monkey to Block's facility, she says, after he offered to run another blood test. When Block examined the monkey, he found an ID-tag hole in its right ear, and when he scanned it, he discovered a microchip identifying the macaque as one of the 33 females stolen from him in July of last year.

Both Reynolds and Parrott insist they saw no hole in the monkey's ear and felt no microchip under its skin.

The macaque remains with Scott while Game and Fresh Water Fish investigates. Mitchell Kalmanson, Block's insurance broker, thinks the commission is dragging its feet. "We've caught Dr. Parrott with a smoking gun -- selling a stolen animal," fumes Kalmanson. "We're out a lot of money, he's out a lot of money, and our question is: Why did the damn Florida Game and Fish Commission not even say where our monkey was?"

The Herald-Sun (Durham, NC)
July 14, 1995 Friday
Monkey continues evading capture

PITTSBORO -- ``No, not yet,'' Sharon Allen, animal control officer, told reporters late Thursday afternoon calling about Chatham County's escaped spider monkey.

Thursday marked Day 5 of the county's attempt to capture the animal, believed to be an escaped pet, since a Siler City woman spotted it in fruit trees behind her house.

``We just want to be left alone,'' Allen said. ``As soon as we get it, you can have as many pictures as you want.''

Allen said she didn't see any danger to the monkey, at least not until winter, and added that the department hoped to catch the pesky primate well before then.

``Hopefully, it won't be that long,'' she said. ``We're not actually trained in monkey chases.''

Newsday (New York)
July 10, 1995, Monday, HOME EDITION
Pair Were More Than Monkeying Around

BY: Liam Pleven and Phil Mintz

The crime spree of Jenny and Clyde started out yesterday morning as routine monkey business, but it ended up with the primate equivalent of attempted breaking and entering, resisting arrest and assault.

The culprits were first spotted by Anna Gursky, 66, of Hoffman Lane in Hauppauge, who was waiting for a ride to church yesterday at 7:20 a.m. when two rhesus monkeys began ringing her doorbell, knocking on her door and trying to turn the doorknob.

"I looked out through my curtains and there's two monkeys sitting on my railing," Gursky said last night. "They were looking right back at me."

Gursky, who said she was scared, dialed 911. "I was hoping they'd believe me. After all, who calls up and says, 'There's monkeys sitting on my deck ringing my bell?' "

When Steven Columbell, an animal control officer with the Town of Islip, tried to take the pair into custody, Jenny and Clyde bit him several times, according to the Suffolk County Police 4th Precinct.

Only with the help of Jenny's owner, Dominick Motta, were authorities able to coax them back into their cage. Motta, 38, who lives up the block, was served with a town summons for creating a nuisance or health hazard. Motta said he has owned Jenny for three years and has been hosting Clyde, who belongs to a Queens pet shop owner, for about two months in an attempt to breed them. He said the monkeys are "for the most part, tame" and Clyde may have bitten the officer because he was worked up by the hubbub and the crowd.

Clyde and Jenny, who is pregnant, wound up last night at the Islip Town Animal Shelter on Denver Road in Bay Shore. But police did not announce any charges against the animals.

The Tampa Tribune
June 23, 1995, Friday, METRO EDITION

Baboon accused in banana theft; Family says pet primate was locked up in his cage

BY: STEPHEN THOMPSON; Tribune Staff Writer

There's some monkey business going on here.

A man says a baboon attacked him early Thursday as he was walking down a street eating a banana, police say.

Normally, such a report would seem preposterous. But a primate matching the general description of the suspect lives at a nearby house. The owners have an alibi for their pet, a 16-year-old Celebes ape named Jesse. They say he
was locked inside his cage with a padlock and chain.

And, they say, Jesse is not smart enough or strong enough to unlock his cage, steal a banana, and return to lock himself back in, said Madeira Beach Police Chief Bert Hatcher.

The story begins with Joseph Napolitiano, 26, of East Meadow, N.Y., who told police he had just bought a banana at a 7-Eleven convenience store.

Napolitiano told police he was walking in the 400 block of 140th Avenue at about 2:20 a.m. when, "out of the dark" a simian assailant appeared and attacked him, ripping his shirt as it yanked the banana out of his hand.

A description of the suspect, according to Chief Hatcher: black with a white rear end, knee-high when on all fours, three to four feet tall when on its two hind legs. The "baboon" also was said to have a large head and big teeth.

Napolitiano said he "flipped out" and punched the animal to fend him off, the chief said. The primate then scampered into some bushes.

As it turned out, a couple on the same block owns five primates - three Capuchins, one squirrel monkey and Jesse.

Authorities awoke Laurelle Balog and her husband, Wayne Garner, at 3 a.m. to discuss their ape. Napolitiano was there, and identified Jesse as his attacker, the couple said.

They don't believe him.

Aside from Jesse's inability to escape, there were problems with Napolitiano's description of the attacker, Balog said.

Jesse is only about two feet tall. And his bottom is red - pink when he sits in wet grass - but never white. As for those teeth, almost all of Jesse's have been pulled in case he bit someone, Balog said.

Jesse's owners said their pet did escape about four years ago, from Garner's mechanic's shop in St. Petersburg.

He turned up at a stranger's house a half-hour later, Balog said. Jesse had helped himself to a Coke, she said, and was watching "The Jetsons" on television with some children.

United Press International
June 2, 1995, Friday, BC cycle
Knife-wielding monkey 'goes bananas'

HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. - A monkey ''went ape'' in central Pennsylvania, holding two women, a policeman and an animal control officer at bay with a paring knife before dropping dead, police said Friday.

The 2-foot-tall monkey died Thursday, possibly of a heart attack, after rampaging through the home of Liz Battisti and Becky Kelly in Hollidaysburg.

The monkey upset furniture, gobbled food and wielded the knife from a kitchen counter. ''This monkey just sort of went ape,'' said Hollidaysburg Police Chief David Shiffler.

''It was knocking furniture over, upsetting anything standing and nobody could get close to it.''

''When they finally caught it, the monkey was just a wreck emotionally,'' said Battisti, 34.

The monkey, a male capuchin, had escaped from the home of Richard Greubel, who lives about a mile from Battisti and Kelly, Shiffler said. When it showed up in a nearby orchard Wednesday night, Kelly, 34, took a box and caught the monkey and brought it home, Battisti said.

''He was really friendly,'' said Battisti.

''He was sitting in our laps. I was tickling him, and he was laughing. He ate peas and apples and peanuts, but he didn't like carrots and broccoli.''

The monkey apparently didn't like adult males, either. When a police officer from neighboring Duncansville showed up Thursday morning to have a look, ''The monkey was watching out the window, saw him and went nuts, '' Battisti said. The monkey bit both women but did not break the skin. The women then called police, who arrived with John Iorio, the Altoona aniamal law officer. The rampage continued. The monkey made a 5-foot standing leap at Iorio, began flicking a cigarette lighter and stood on the kitchen counter for three minutes, flailing away with the paring knife.

''It was holding it by the handle, making stabbing motions,'' said Battisti. ''He stabbed the bread, and he stabbed a bag of brown sugar, he stabbed the kitchen screen, and he dropped the knife in the kitchen wastebasket.'' Iorio finally caught the exhausted monkey with a stick that had a small loop on the end, which normally is used to capture dogs. Altoona police Sgt. John Carnicella said the monkey appeared to have suffered a heart attack after it was captured. Shiffler said the monkey probably will be tested for disease.

Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)
May 12, 1995, Friday
Quarantined monkey shows no sign of deadly virus

BY: Bill Scanlon; Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer

A rhesus monkey seized in Denver for fear it carried the Ebola virus has tested clean so far.

''He's doing better than you and me,'' said veterinarian Ron Banks of the Animal Research Center at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver.

The 3-year-old rhesus monkey doesn't have herpes B virus or simian retrovirus - similar to the Ebola virus and sometimes called monkey AIDS. Neither does it have measles.

Two tests have found no tuberculosis, but the monkey will have two more TB tests before his 31-day quarantine ends May 25.

U.S. Customs officers seized the monkey April 19 from the home of Denver resident Howard Lee Stitt, after neighbors telephoned to say it appeared to be the same type of animal that carried the virus in the fictional film Outbreak.

An outbreak of Ebola virus in Zaire, resulting this week in the quarantining of the city of Kikwit, has fueled concern.

Stitt, who apparently kept it as a pet, won't get the monkey back.

The incubation period for many diseases isn't known, and vaccines aren't available to keep the monkey clean, Banks cautioned. ''Because he's clean today doesn't mean he'll be clean next year.''

There is more good news for the monkey, if its final tests come back clean.

United Airlines has agreed to fly the monkey to Texas, where it will be released into a wildlife rehabilitation facility in the hill country.

Denver Rocky Mountain News
April 20, 1995, Thursday

Neighbor's tip leads agents to pet monkey
Medical lab to test animal for viruses fatal to people

BY: Bill Scanlon; Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer

U.S. Customs officers Wednesday seized a monkey in Denver that could carry a killer virus.

The rhesus monkey - the species that stars in the new medical thriller Outbreak - is in quarantine at the Animal Resource Center at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. It will be tested for tuberculosis and various viruses and parasites, Dr. Ron Banks said.

An out-of-state lab will determine if the monkey, allegedly smuggled from the Philippines, carries the Herpesvirus simiae or the Ebola virus, both fatal to humans.

Denver resident Howard Lee Stitt surrendered the monkey after customs officers and Denver police officers knocked on his door Wednesday morning, said Special Agent Gary Hillberry.

Stitt reportedly had kept the monkey as a pet for several years. The tip came from a neighbor.

In the film Outbreak, a California town is threatened with annihilation because a macaque spreads Ebola virus to humans. In the movie, so many people die so quickly that drastic measures must be taken to prevent the virus from spreading throughout the nation.

Authorities did the right thing seizing the monkey, said Dr. Robert Schooley, head of infectious diseases at CU. But the danger to the public isn't as great as the movie Outbreak would have us believe, he said.

''I suspect that if Outbreak hadn't come out six weeks ago, the Customs Office would have ho-hummed this,'' Schooley said. ''And I doubt if the neighbors would have made the call.''

The Independent (London)
April 4, 1995, Tuesday

Egypt bans pet monkey imports

Cairo - The city airport has banned people bringing monkeys into Egypt as part of an anti-Aids campaign. Two infected pets were found on a flight from New York last Wednesday. AP

Agence France Presse
April 03, 1995 08:48 Eastern Time

Egypt bans monkeys in anti-AIDS campaign

The authorities at Cairo airport have banned passengers from bringing monkeys into Egypt as part of an anti-AIDS campaign, the daily al-Ahram newspaper said Monday.

They new restrictions, which also cover animals accompanying transit passengers, were introduced after the authorities destroyed two AIDS-infected pet monkeys on a flight from New York on March 29.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)
March 4, 1995, Saturday, FIVE STAR Edition
WILD THINGS; EXOTIC ANIMALS MAKE INTRIGUING, SOMETIMES ILLEGAL PETS

BY: Patricia Corrigan Of the Post-Dispatch Staff

Any mountain lions live near you?

Are you sure?

Not everybody favors domestic animals as pets. Some animal lovers in the St. Louis area prefer pythons, monkeys or hybrid wolves to dogs, cats and canaries.

Consider the lion cub found Feb. 23 tied at the Zoo's front gate. The 40-pound cub, about 6 months old, had been declawed and was wearing a collar. Zoo officials suspect it was someone's pet - someone who may have decided the king of the jungle was a tad more pet than they wanted.

Four cougar cubs now live in St. Clair County. A 30-year-old monkey in St. Charles County has pets of its own: For a while, it served as a surrogate mother for a kitten. Now it spends time with a guinea pig.

Laws regarding exotic pets vary greatly in Missouri and Illinois. Some counties prohibit or restrict the keeping of exotic animals. In Missouri, some counties look to the state to regulate the animals.

Neither state requires people who keep wild animals to notify the neighbors. And no one really is certain how many people in Missouri or Illinois keep exotic pets without benefit of a license.

For instance, the city of St. Louis has no record of anyone owning an exotic pet. Rich Stevson, with the department of health and hospitals, said several people had called over the years to ask about the city's wild animal ordinance, but no one had actually applied for a permit.

Those in charge of licensing venomous snakes, bears, big cats and primates express some reluctance about keeping them.

"Wild animals are not, as a general rule, trustworthy," said Dr. Dan Knox, manager of animal control in St. Louis County and a veterinarian. "For the welfare of the animals and the safety of our citizens, we do not recommend wild animals as pets."

Having said that, Knox then said that some people did well as owners of exotic pets. But others can't provide the food, the room for the cage and the exercise the animals require.

In St. Louis County, owners of exotic pets must buy a license for a one-time fee of $ 25 and $ 100,000 in liability insurance and they must allow an annual inspection of the animal's quarters. Getting Out Of Hand

Some owners can't keep track of their exotic pets.

In mid-February, a hybrid wolf - part wolf and part dog - and a 3-foot-long boa constrictor turned up, independently, at the St. Louis County Animal Shelter. Both were pets, and both eventually were returned to their owners.

Last year, two pet snow monkeys got loose in Alton. One was captured quickly; one made its way to Florissant.

A python living with its owner in an apartment in South County slithered into a heating duct last month and emerged in another apartment. And Knox said he had been called to remove large snakes from under trailer homes, where they sometimes settle after escaping.

"The problem, of course, is if one attacks a child. Usually, snakes won't attack unless they feel cornered," he said.

Pet snakes have killed people, Knox said.

Tom Amlung, an animal services administrator in St. Clair County, said he recently learned of a pet wolf kept on a rope in a front yard. St. Clair County prohibits exotic pets, but Amlung said some people who wanted to keep wild animals applied to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a Class C exhibitors license, thus circumventing the county's law.

"That's a federal license, and the way our laws are written, there is nothing we can do," Amlung said.

Owners of exotic pets in Illinois are not required to have any special liability insurance. That in mind, Amlung said a wolf on a rope in a front yard sounded risky to him.

John Carpenter concurs.

Carpenter, director of St. Charles County Humane and Environmental Services, points out that wolves are predators.

"If a small animal or a child runs from a wolf, its spontaneous reaction would be to chase the prey," Carpenter said.

Another big concern is the health of the pets.

Remember those two snow monkeys who ran away in Alton? When caught, both tested positive for the herpes B virus. They were euthanized.

"Herpes B is normally fatal to humans," Carpenter said. "If either of those monkeys had bitten someone. . . ." A Big Commitment

Another concern about keeping wild animals as pets, Carpenter said, is the level of commitment required.

"Many people don't understand it's a long-term commitment, and they don't accept responsibility for the animal. That's a big problem," he said.

He knows firsthand. For more than three years, Carpenter kept a seven-foot-long boa constrictor.

"I found it. Someone had turned it loose in the city of St. Charles," Carpenter said.

Last year, Carpenter learned of a pet lion living in St. Charles County. He visited with the lion's owner and explained that keeping lions was against county law.

"I asked this man just what he was going to do when the lion reached its full weight," Carpenter said. A male lion can weigh as much as 400 pounds.

"He said he would shoot it when it got too big, and have it mounted."

THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
January 8, 1995, Sunday, BULLDOG EDITION
Neighbors want N.C. man and menagerie to move Safety, health risks from tigers and monkeys cited; owner calls flap overreaction

BY: Jeffrey Ball, Charlotte Observer

HEMBY BRIDGE, N.C. - Steve Maca-luso's neighbors weren't pleased last winter when they saw exotic birds in his garage and diapered monkeys climbing the trees beside his driveway.

But it wasn't until this fall, when Mr. Maca-luso acquired two tigers, that his fellow suburbanites really began to growl.

Now, petitions and legal threats are souring relations in Country Woods East, a subdivision in northwest Union County, N.C.

Young couples worried for their children's safety want Mr. Maca-luso to remove the menagerie in the chain-link cages behind his house. Mr. Maca-luso says his pets are too small to endanger neighbors and that he'll move them before they grow big enough to pose a threat.

North Carolina Zoological Park officials, however, said the tigers represent a bite risk and that the monkeys could spread disease. Union County's health board will make a decision soon on what to do.

"The tiger's four months old, and it already weighs more than my boy," Dan Piterski said of Teka, Mr. Maca-luso's 18-week-old feline.

Mr. Piterski is one of 20 homeowners in Country Woods East who signed a petition asking the county to force Mr. Maca-luso to get rid of his peculiar pets.

"I'm a big nature guy. But cats are unpredictable," said Mr. Piterski, whose children are 3 and 6. He also worries that property values will drop when prospective buyers learn that "we have a zoo here."

Mr. Macaluso protests that Teka is merely "an overgrown kitten," and that she and Puffer, a 10-week-old tiger that lives in Mr. Maca-luso's house, have been de-clawed. As for his macaque monkeys, Mr. Maca-luso notes his house purchase contract stipulated that he be allowed to keep two primates on his property.

Mr. Macaluso, 36, said he has "always been different." He owns S-M Amusements, which rents video games to area bars. Part of the reason he moved from New Jersey to Union County was that his macaques were illegal where he was living, he said.

Now he plans to move again. He wants to buy a bigger Charlotte-area homestead within a year - before his tigers grow up.

Until then, he hopes to stay in his subdivision, where he sleeps on a water bed with his tigers and monkeys. He'll also keep shopping for a black panther.

"I should not be living in this development, and that is why I'm moving," he said. "I want to go live on 20 acres where I don't have neighbors who will complain."

But neighbors want his critters out now, and they said they're consulting a lawyer. They point to a county ordinance barring "wild animals" heavier than 50 pounds - a weight the 44-pound Teka is fast approaching.

They also note that their subdivision's covenant bans chain-link fences and all animals except household pets such as dogs and cats.

Mr. Macaluso isn't cowed.

"I have cages, not a fence," he said. "If you really want to push the issue, a tiger is a cat. In my eyes, it is a household pet."

Not quite, said Lorraine Meller, curator of mammals for the North Carolina Zoological Park.

Tigers can bite unpredictably, said Ms. Meller, whom Mr. Maca-luso's neighbors contacted with their concerns. And macaques can carry diseases spread through waste or other body fluids, she said.

It is due to such concerns that Charlotte and Meck-lenburg County bar residents from keeping wild animals, including monkeys and tigers, in their homes, officials said.

Ms. Meller, though noting she hasn't seen Mr. Maca-luso's pets, said she also would worry about the animals' welfare.

"Our philosophical position would be that we don't support pet ownership of exotic animals," she said.

The squabble began last year, when Mr. Maca-luso phoned from New Jersey to ask Union County officials whether he could move his monkeys and birds - as well as several dogs and cats - to the county.

Officials consulted the county's animal ordinance and said his feathered and furry friends would be welcomed, according to Mr. Maca-luso and Union County Health Director Lorey White.

Within a week of his arrival, however, neighbors began grousing about his monkeys. Mr. Maca-luso kept the primates leashed to trees, he said, letting them climb and fetch tools while he fixed his car in the driveway.

But Mickey, a macaque, escaped into the neighborhood twice.

Lori Kissinger, Mr. Maca-luso's next-door neighbor, said that one evening several months ago, some neighbors were sitting on their deck with an out-of-town relative when the monkey jumped onto the wooden railing "and about scared her to death."

"It was a mistake on my part," Mr. Maca-luso said, adding that he no longer lets his macaques outside unleashed.

Then, about three months ago, Teka arrived.

The tiger, Mr. Piterski said, was "the last straw."

In mid-October, Mr. Piterski and owners of 19 other houses sent the subdivision's developer, Carlton Tyson, a letter requesting enforcement of the development's covenant.

Mr. Tyson referred the matter to Mr. White, the county health director.

Union County officials took another look at the animal-control ordinance. They discovered they neglected to tell Mr. Maca-luso that the ordinance bars wild animals heavier than 50 pounds, Mr. White said.

Mr. Macaluso noted that ostriches are raised on farms in the county. And he contends that because officials made a mistake last year, they should waive Union County's 50-pound rule for his animals until he moves them next year.

Mr. White disagrees. "Two wrongs don't make a right," he said.

All the sniping perplexes Mr. Tyson, the developer, who doesn't live in Country Woods East.

"People keep pigs and snakes and alligators and everything else in their houses," he said. "A household pet in the last 10 years has changed a lot."

Herald Sun
January 4, 1995 Wednesday
MONKEY SALES WARNING

CONCERNS are growing about monkeys as pets after a pet shop advertised three for sale.

On December 24, Kellyville Pets in Sydney's north-west advertised three monkeys for sale. Proprietor John Grimar is selling a female 14-month-old rhesus monkey for $10,000, a three-and-a-half-year-old male monkey for $9000 and a 20-month-old male monkey for $8000, all bred in Australia.

"They aren't a very popular pet, it's not something for everybody," he said.

"They can be very destructive, they can be very dominant and they're not good for children to be around."

The RSPCA warned of legal difficulties even though the monkeys were bred in Australia from animals passed by quarantine.

Worries included their effect on agriculture, the prospect of feral monkeys if breeding got out of control and monkeys passing
on herpes, tuberculosis and the flu virus to humans.

New South Wales legislation to control exotic animals was passed in October but it was still legal to keep monkeys as pets, Graeme Eggleston, agriculture protection officer with the Department of Agriculture, said yesterday.An RSPCA spokeswoman predicted it would be "almost impossible" in future to get a licence from the Department of Agriculture to keep a monkey as a pet.

"Unless you're a park, or a zoo or if you have a private zoo, it's going to be against the law," she said.

Taronga Zoo's Life Sciences manager Will Meikle advised against keeping a pet monkey. "They can transmit diseases such as herpes, tuberculosis and the flu to humans and vice versa."

He said primates were also prone to stress and it was very difficult for a "humanised" monkey to return to primate society. "And they breed willy nilly, they in-breed with brothers and sisters and if breeding got out of control it could be a
problem," he said.

Philadelphia Daily News
November 30, 1994 Wednesday PM EDITION
MONKEY BITES DINER CARRIED IN PURSE

BY: Reuters

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Police were on the lookout yesterday for an unidentified woman whose pet monkey jumped out of her purse and bit the ear of a man dining at a local restaurant.

Sigmund Rosenbaum was having dinner and drinks at the bar of Georgio's, a local Italian restaurant, late Saturday afternoon when he felt something on top of his head and then felt a pinch on his left ear, a police spokeswoman said.

He told police he put his hand to his ear and noticed a small amount of blood.

The restaurant's manager told police the man apparently had been bitten by a small monkey that jumped out of its owner's purse and onto Rosenbaum's head.

By the time Rosenbaum contacted police, after returning home five hours later, the woman - and monkey - were gone.

Boca Raton police were not sure what charges - if any - the woman or monkey would face if they were located.

Denver Rocky Mountain News
November 30, 1994, Wednesday

Monkey in Florida restaurant exhibits a taste for human ears

Police in Boca Raton, Fla., were on the lookout Tuesday for an unidentified woman whose pet monkey jumped out of her purse and bit the ear of a man dining at a local restaurant.

Sigmund Rosenbaum was having dinner and drinks at the bar of Georgio's, a local Italian restaurant, late Saturday afternoon when he felt something on top of his head and then felt a pinch on his left ear, a police spokeswoman said. He told police he put his hand to his ear and noticed a small amount of blood. The restaurant's manager told police the man apparently had been bitten by a small monkey that jumped out of its owner's purse and onto Rosenbaum's head. By the time Rosenbaum contacted police, after returning home five hours later, the woman - and monkey - were gone.

Boca Raton police were not sure what charges, if any, the woman or monkey would face if they were located. ''We looked through our city ordinance and there isn't anything in there. . . . We couldn't find anything on monkeys.
Only dogs, cats or livestock,'' said officer Lori Croy.

The Record
September 30, 1994; FRIDAY
MONKEY ON THE RUN AFTER PET-STORE ESCAPE

SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP, NJ -- A monkey named Freddie who escaped from a pet-store zoo was spotted Thursday, but the animal remained on the loose.

The monkey, a Japanese Snow Macaque, was spotted twice at the Animal Kingdom Pet Store and Zoo, said employee Brandi Schroder. But the 2 1/2-foot-tall male monkey got away, she said.

Freddie escaped Saturday from a cage that was accidentally left unlocked after a feeding, Schroder said. She said the monkey is harmless.

The red-faced animal has been spotted several times, making stops at a restaurant, a horse farm, and a home, where he swiped a pumpkin.

"Every time we get calls, we go out there," Schroder said. "But he's fast."

Police also are on the lookout for Freddie, said Chief Ken Gerber.

Residents are aware that the monkey is on the loose.

Gerber said police are hoping to capture Freddie before deer hunting season begins Saturday. Schroder said the zoo curator may use a tranquilizer if the monkey returns.

"I don't want to bring any harm to the animal," Gerber said.

Salt Lake Tribune (Utah)
August 5, 1994, Friday
HERPES IN 4-YEAR-OLD LINKED TO MONKEY BITES

SURPRISE, Ariz. - Efforts here by a woman to rescue two snow monkeys from "squalor" may have endangered her 4-year-old son.

Deborah Kahler blames the monkeys for painful herpes sores that have infected her son's eye. Ryan Kahler's doctor is concerned the boy may have been exposed to herpes B, a life-threatening virus normally not found in humans.

Ryan was diagnosed with herpes simplex in his eye in late July, about three weeks after he had been bitten and scratched while playing with the two Japanese macaques.

Ira Goodman, an ophthalmologist, said he cannot prove the virus that caused the boy's painful eye ulcer was transmitted by the monkeys, but he said it is "very suspicious."

Goodman is worried that the boy may have the herpes B virus, which is present in more than 80 percent of adult macaques.

Officials at the Arizona Department of Health Services, the state Veterinarian's Office, and the USDA say they cannot require that monkeys be tested for the diseases they can pass on to humans, such as tuberculosis and herpes.

Knoxville News-Sentinel (Tennessee)
August 2, 1994, Tuesday
PET SPIDER MONKEY LOOSE IN NATIONAL PARK

A pet spider monkey is loose in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, spokesman Bob Miller said Monday.

Pansy escaped from her owner Friday near the second tunnel on U.S. 441, or about 10 miles from Sugarlands Visitor Center.

Wearing a bright neon collar, the monkey is described as about the size of a cat and weighing six or seven pounds, Miller said.

"We don't have anyone searching for her. We're hoping Pansy will turn herself in," he joked.

"We don't know if the monkey will make herself scarce and try to live on berries or roots or if she'll approach park visitors."

Miller warned that spider monkeys can bite. He asked anyone seeing the monkey to call park dispatchers at 436-1230, "and we'll try to reunite Pansy with her family."

Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, OK)
June 17, 1994, Friday CITY EDITION
Park Chimp Gone, But Trouble Looms Two Lawsuits Claim He Bit

BY: Mark A. Hutchison, Staff Writer

SULPHUR, OK -- SULPHUR - He may be 2,000 miles away, but Murray the chimp can't seem to stay out of legal trouble in Oklahoma.

A lawsuit filed May 6 in Murray County District Court alleges the 2-year-old former star attraction of Arbuckle Wilderness bit an infant child on the head June 12, 1993.

The lawsuit was filed against the Murray County Industrial Authority on behalf of James and Linda Aynes, parents of Jason Aynes.

Arbuckle Wilderness was purchased by the industrial authority in 1992.

The suit says the "chimpanzee was under the direct supervision of an employee of the defendant and negligently allowed the chimpanzee to bite the minor plaintiff."

Also, the defendants "harbored a wild animal" and are therefore liable for damages, according to the suit.

As a result of the bite, the boy suffered mental and physical pain and suffering, and emotional distress. A second complaint in the lawsuit alleges the boy's parents also suffered emotional distress; loss of companionship and affections of their child and incurred medical expenses.

The Aynes' are seeking in excess of $ 10,000 on each cause of action.

James Aynes told The Oklahoman in a July 1993 interview that his then 3-month-old son had been posing for a picture with the chimp when the female chimp handler slapped the animal on the arm.

Agitated, the chimp bit the boy on the nose, mouth and head, Aynes said.

Ron Armitage, executive director of the Murray County Industrial Authority, said Thursday that if the incident did occur, the Aynes'should have immediately contacted park officials.

"If there was an incident and it was reported to us, we'd certainly act in the best interest of anyone injured," Armitage said. "When you don't know about these things, it creates a problem. "

The alleged bite of Jason Aynes occurred eight days prior to another child allegedly being bitten. The parents of 3-year-old Matthew Luna said the same chimp nipped their son while posing for a picture in the park's gift shop.

The Lunas in August 1993 filed a claim against the park seeking $ 100,000. Armitage said the claim is pending.

After the Luna report, state health officials issued an execution order for the chimp to test it for rabies. Arbuckle Wilderness officials refused to surrender him.

Finally, an agreement was made whereby Murray was quarantined for two weeks, and could no longer have contact with park patrons.

The chimp was sold for $ 15,000 to a New York production company early this year, and recently appeared in a "Saturday Night Live" skit.

Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
January 26, 1994 WEDNESDAY, PALM BEACH EDITION
2 MONKEYS TAKE SWING THROUGH AREA ONE FUGITIVE CAPUCHIN APPARENTLY ELECTROCUTED BY POWER TRANSFORMER

BY: NEIL SANTANIELLO; Staff Writer

One woman found the two visitors in her back yard one evening, jumping all over her porch. Another woman, a neighbor, came home to find the pair swinging from powerlines next to her driveway.

For 11 days, monkey sightings have been part of the day-to-day routine for residents along Palmway and Canal Drive, two tree-studded streets west of Boynton Beach and the latest hangout for two capuchin monkeys on the lam.

The brown five-pound monkeys, a male named Joe and a female named Baby, escaped from their owner, Melvin Lowe, a roofer living in the same neighborhood, Biltmore Terrace, on Jan. 15.

The monkeys, natives of Central America, thwarted attempts to capture them and made the most of their newfound freedom, but their fondness for powerline acrobatics apparently cost one of the monkeys, Baby, her life on Tuesday. Lowe's son, Ricky, 16, and a group of friends found Baby's body on the ground in the early evening near a power transformer. The monkey apparently had been electrocuted, the boy said.

Melvin Lowe said he had a license to raise exotic animals, and kept Baby and Joe - along with a third capuchin - as pets at his six-acre home on Hilltop Drive.

The capuchins lived at the Lowe home along with six squirrel monkeys and one owl monkey. All were kept in chain-link cages. Other exotic and tamed wild animals reside on the property, including a baby buffalo, antelope, deer, snakes and pigs.

"It's something to keep your mind occupied," Melvin Lowe, 55, said of the exotic animal collection. He said all three capuchins, brought to the United States from Panama, escaped when his son did not properly lock the door on their cage.

He managed to capture one, but Baby and Joe, he said, made a beeline for the towering pines around his home.

Capuchins are a particularly intelligent species of monkey, and "once they get out, they go," said Lowe, who owns M & L Roofing in Boynton Beach. "In 20 minutes, they were already a half-mile away."

Both monkeys cost him about $ 3,000, he said. He said he posted several signs with his phone number around the neighborhood asking people to call him to report the whereabouts of Baby and Joe and set out traps baited with corn to try to snag them. But the two monkeys, who had recently mated, evaded capture, he said.

Since the escape, he said he's gotten periodic calls from people reporting encounters with the capuchins. He said Baby and Joe had been living on grapefruit and carambola plucked from trees in the neighborhood.

Cristy Archie saw both monkeys for the first time on Tuesday afternoon, before Baby died. She was pulling into her driveway in the 5100 block of Palmway and saw the the pair prancing around on a powerline stretching from the street to her garage.

"They were running back and forth and swinging back and forth and being really cute," she said. "I knew they were domesticated because when we pulled up, they just stayed there and watched us."

She said her cat, Sugar, took an interest in one of the monkeys and chased it away.

The New York Times
January 3, 1994
Zoo Housed Monkey With a Deadly Disease

PITTSBURGH -- A monkey with a contagious disease fatal to humans was housed in the children's section of the Pittsburgh Zoo for nearly three years after the illness was diagnosed, a newspaper reported this weekend.

The monkey, a Japanese macaque named Alphie who became something of a folk hero after a six-month escape from the zoo in 1987, is now quarantined with five other infected monkeys, all his progeny.

Zoo documents show that three weeks after the macaque was recaptured on Jan. 27, 1988, he tested positive for Simian B virus, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on Saturday. The newspaper made no mention of injuries from the monkeys, and zoo officials were not available for comment today.

Simian B can be transmitted to humans through bites or scratches. It is incurable in primates but not fatal. In humans, however, it is deadly in 70 percent of cases.

The zoo's director, Barbara Baker, had Alphie quarantined in January 1991, months after she was hired. "He was in the middle of the children's zoo," she told the newspaper. "It horrified me."

The Toronto Star
December 14, 1993, Tuesday, METRO EDITION
Monkey with virus recaptured on roof

BELLEVILLE, Ont. (CP) - A Japanese snow monkey that's carrying a virus that could harm humans has been found after it escaped from a nearby animal shelter 10 days ago.

The monkey, which could have passed the virus to humans had the animal bit or scratched anyone, was found on the roof of a farm building east of this eastern Ontario city on Sunday.

Ontario Provincial police believe the monkey survived by eating apples, nuts and wild growth.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)
December 22, 1993, WEDNESDAY, ILLINOIS FIVE STAR Edition

BELLEVILLE, ILLINOIS - The Lam Split Up At Parkway

The search for two escaped pet monkeys in Alton has become tougher after they were separated while trying to cross a highway, authorities said.

A spokeswoman for the local animal control department said the two macaques escaped Dec. 15 and have eluded the police and animal control officers trying to tranquilize them. They have been reported in several wooded locations in Alton since then.

The older monkey is about 4 1/2-feet tall; the younger one is half that size. They are dangerous only if cornered and should be left alone, officials said. Anyone who sees them should call the police at 463-3505 or the animal control department at 463-3553.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)
December 22, 1993, WEDNESDAY

The search for two escaped pet monkeys in Alton has become tougher after they were separated while trying to cross a highway, authorities said.

A spokeswoman for the local animal control department said the two macaques escaped Dec. 15 and have eluded the police and animal control officers trying to tranquilize them. They have been reported in several wooded locations in Alton since then.

The older monkey is about 4 1/2-feet tall; the younger one is half that size. They are dangerous only if cornered and should be left alone, officials said. Anyone who sees them should call the police at 463-3505 or the animal control department at 463-3553.

Mainichi Daily News
November 3, 1993, Wednesday

Imported monkey infects four with dysentery

CHIGASAKI, Kanagawa - A pet monkey has infected four people in Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture with dysentery, Health and Welfare Ministry sources said Tuesday.

Authorities are trying to determine if the monkey, which came from Ghana, had the dysentery bacteria when it was brought into the country or whether it contracted it here. The sources said a 30-year-old man, diagnosed with the infection on Oct. 26, bought the monkey at a pet shop in Yokohama on Oct.14.

Tests showed that both the man and the monkey had the same type of dysentery bacteria. The monkey contracted diarrhea on Oct. 16 and died last Wednesday.

Health authorities suspect that the man was infected with dysentery by mouth-to-mouth feeding of the monkey.

The man's parents and a 28-year-old woman colleague who had kept the monkey one day at her house all showed traces of the bacteria in tests. Health authorities also found the same bacteria present in tests on another monkey from the same pet shop.

The infected monkey was one of 22 such animals imported from Ghana on Sept. 22. A pet trader from Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, bought the monkeys and sold them to pet shops in 7 prefectures. The monkeys have health certificates issued by the Ghana government.

The only other recent cases of diarrhea contracted from monkeys were in 1974 in Gumma and Kanagawa prefectures, and in Tokyo.

According to the health authorities, a medical inspection is not required for imported animals but a trader has to wait two weeks before selling animals to retail shops.

Orlando Sentinel (Florida)
October 17, 1993 Sunday, 3 STAR
4 PET MONKEYS DIE IN FIRE AT A HOUSE IN LONGWOOD

LONGWOOD, FL -
Four pet monkeys died after being caught in a house fire near the intersection of U.S. Highway 17-92 and Shepard Road Friday night, a spokesman for the Seminole County Public Safety Department said.

The occupants of the house at 975 U.S. 17-92 operated a pet shop there several years ago. Rescue workers plucked five animals from the blaze, then used advanced life-support equipment in an attempt to keep them alive.

Three of the animals died Friday night, but two were transported to Seminole County Animal Control for further treatment. A fourth monkey died Saturday.

Residents Hal and Ruth Granberry were not injured in the fire.

Chicago Tribune
July 17, 1993
Girl knows what guenon is, has stitches to prove it

BY: Mark Shuman

This fall, when her teachers at Carl Sandburg School in Rolling Meadows ask 11-year-old Mindy Medley what she learned on her summer vacation, she'll have a rare chance to hand out some advice - stay away from guenons!

A guenon is a species of monkey - the type that bit Mindy last Sunday, requiring several stitches to close the wounds.

Mindy was walking back to her condominium from the pool area of the complex where she lives with her family, when Yondi, the Kenyan-born primate, strayed from its owner and pounced on the youngster.

"I was about five feet away from a woman sitting on a chair," said Mindy, "all of a sudden, this thing ran up to me and grabbed my leg and wouldn't let go.

"I was screaming so hard I couldn't hear if it was making any noise or even figure out what it was," she said.

Finally, the monkey's owner, Audrey Kyle, 52, who had the animal on a leash, managed to put the eight-pound creature in a cage, police said.

Mindy required five stitches for three wounds,, police said, adding that Kyle would pay Mindy's medical bills.

The unusual pet, specifically, is a 23-year-old Lesser Spotted White-Nosed Guenon. It was known to police long before Sunday, according to Rolling Meadows Animal Control Officer Al Jurs.

The monkey was given to Kyle and her husband Earl by a game preserve veterinarian when the couple lived in Kenya, according to their attorney, Ken Ross.

In 1986, Ross said, Yondi's mother died giving birth in captivity, and Audrey Kyle fed the tiny monkey, which is protected under the Endangered Species Act, with an eyedropper.

Long-tailed and lightning quick, guenons are better off in Kenya than in suburban Chicago, say to Rolling Meadows police.

Rolling Meadows, in fact, took Kyle and her husband to court in the 1980s to force them to give Yondi up, after police alleged that several people had been bitten by the animal. A local ordinance at the time banned residents from keeping bees, goats and other animals but did not mention monkeys.

But Illinois Appellate Court Justice Dom Rizzi ultimately ruled in the Kyles' favor in June, 1986. Although Rolling Meadows then passed an ordinance banning the keeping of a variety of animals, including monkeys, Yondi was allowed to live out her days with the couple, Jurs said.

Despite the attack on Mindy, the youngster said Yondi should be allowed to remain with the Kyles.

On Thursday, Jurs said the village had no plans to reopen its bid to oust Yondi.

Buffalo News (New York)
July 9, 1993
NIAGARA MAN BITTEN ON HANDS BY PET MONKEY

NIAGARA, NY -- A Hyde Park Boulevard man was injured at 9:20 p.m. Thursday when his pet monkey bit him on both hands, Officer Jim Tobey said.

Franklin Acevedo, 25, of Hyde Park Boulevard said he was training the Patas monkey in his apartment when it began to bite him, lacerating both hands, Tobey said.

Acevedo was taken to Mount St. Mary's Hospital, Lewiston, by ambulance where he received stitches to close the wounds, Tobey said.

Tobey said the 7-year-old monkey, which was caged when he arrived at the scene, is about the size of a 2-year-old baby. He said Acevedo has owned the animal for nine months.

The Herald (Glasgow)
July 8, 1993
Check on monkey link with dead girl

BY: Alan Macdermid, Medical Correspondent

TESTS at the Government's germ research unit at Porton Down are expected to show over the next two days whether a Glasgow family's pet monkeys are linked to the death of a four-year-old girl.

The girl was taken from her home in Castlemilk to the Victoria Infirmary on Monday night but was dead on arrival.

Specialists from the Communicable Diseases Unit at Ruchill Hospital were called in after it emerged the girl's family had kept two pet monkeys at home.

One of the monkeys died three weeks ago and the other was put down on Tuesday for analysis.

A spokesman for Greater Glasgow Health Board said last night that results were expected within 48 hours.

Blood samples from the girl, her parents, and a second child are believed to have been sent to Porton Down, where reference samples for exotic diseases like Simian B virus are held, though the board would not confirm or deny this.

Samples are also being checked at Ruchill and at the Glasgow Vet School for other organisms.

It is understood, however, that doctors believe the child may have had a respiratory problem.

Police in the south of England have also begun inquiries into the source of the monkeys -- the family are believed to have bought them as a birthday present in March through a magazine advertisement.

THE ORLANDO SENTINEL
July 5, 1993 Monday, 3 STAR

ACTIVISTS PEEVED BY PET PRIMATES; SOME WHO ARE AGAINST THE DOMESTICATION OF THE WILD ANIMALS LIKEN THE PRACTICE TO KEEPING A CHILD ON A LEASH.

BY: By Kevin Spear

Melissa Karron fed and diapered her pet monkey for four years, loving it as a child.

But then the African monkey, known as a guenon, began the passage to adulthood. "Chucky," as she called him, became too wild to control. "At that point there was no going back," the Arkansas health-care executive said. "He
was biting everybody in the neighborhood."

Instead of having the guenon's canine teeth pulled to prevent it from hurting someone, Karron gave it to a special primate refuge in San Antonio. She flies to the refuge regularly to help care for her monkey and 300 other former pets.

"It's sad," she said. "Chucky will be in his cage for 40 years."

An experience that Karron now regrets is at the heart of an issue that has set primate breeders and some owners on a collision course with animal-rights advocates, who view the domestication of such wild animals as similar to keeping a child on a leash.

"It is a tragedy for the animals," said Shirley McGreal, chairwoman of the International Primate Protection League in Summerville, S.C. "They belong in the wild."
McGreal and others say primates raised by breeders are traumatized because they are taken from their mothers soon after birth to bond with their human owners.

Justin and Yvonne Finser, owners of a breeding ranch in south Marion County, say such criticism is unfounded.

Primates, they say, are not as sensitive as animal-rights advocates would like to think and adjust well to life with humans.

Beverly Kough of Mount Dora said she has been richly rewarded by her 3-year-old pet ape, which she got from the Finsers.

The small ape, named Mary, does a fair job of flossing her own teeth, but when it comes to brushing she seems mostly interested in the flavor of toothpaste. She is also diapered, fed and loved - and her canine teeth have been pulled.

"A primate is not a pet for everybody," Kough said.

Nobody knows for sure how many primates are kept as pets. They certainly are harder to get than when they were available by mail order decades ago.

Since 1975, federal law has banned imports of wild primates as pets to help slow their disappearance from native habitats.

Another hurdle is finding and affording a primate. Some, such as Mary, cost as much as some new economy cars.

Apart from smugglers, about the only source now is a breeder, such as Finser Exotics, possibly the nation's largest, which legally may sell the offspring of primates imported before 1975.

This past spring, the breeding ranch turned into a nursery. Among the newborn were ruffed lemurs who nibbled on grapes. Nearby a spider monkey that refused to eat hovered near death.

Finser's wife, Yvonne, mothered the animals, making frequent calls to a veterinarian for advice.

Like many zoos, the Finsers are rearing primates that are disappearing from their native lands in Asia, Africa and South America.

Yvonne Finser said they sell at least 50 animals a year.

Getting a permit to have a pet primate in Florida requires 1,000 hours of experience over a 12-month period in caring for the animals. Rules vary; California's are stringent, there are almost none elsewhere.

"It's almost like an adoption. There are diapers and feeding, and they throw tantrums," she said. "There has to be a commitment that goes beyond what most people think."

Longtime owners of pet primates agree.

To encourage them to bond with humans, baby primates are taken from their parents soon after they are born. Finser Exotics must tranquilize some of the more fiercely defensive mothers.

Yvonne Finser said primate mothers cry after losing their young but soon resume a normal life.

However, others who work with primates believe infants and mothers are deeply traumatized by separation.

Fred Antonio, curator of the Central Florida Zoological Park near Sanford, said "Their psychological needs are just not met by human contact alone."

Jane Paulette, secretary of the international Simian Society - a club of primate owners - said many first-time pet buyers are unaware of the commitment needed because the breeders do not inform them.

Paulette, who lives in St. Louis, Mo., learned the hard way about the difficulties and even dangers of owning primates. She has scars from bad bites received during the past 30 years.

Still, she can't envision living without her pet monkeys.

"I hope I die soon after my last monkey dies," she said.

Animal-rights advocates say there is little likelihood that even the most committed owners will want to keep their primates into adulthood. Though the first years can be pleasurable, once a monkey or ape reaches sexual maturity within 2 years to 4 years, they can become unmanageable.

Antonio said real problems begin when primate teen-agers begin to feel their oats, the wildness of sexual maturity.

Wallace Swett, director of the Primarily Primates refuge in San Antonio, Texas, said mature primates constantly strive for dominance, mark themselves by washing in urine, and display explicit sexual behavior.

"If it were true that monkeys and apes made good pets, that would be great, but they can't be held to domestic animal standards," he said. "It's unethical to ruin an animal for life just to have it for a few years."

Press Association
June 7, 1993, Monday
'PAY UP THOUSANDS OR LOSE PET MONKEY', COUPLE TOLD

Animal lovers John and Veronica Jones have been told they must spend several thousand pounds double-glazing their house - or get rid of Margo, their 23-year-old pet monkey. Environmental health chiefs say Margo, who has lived with the couple in Kirkby, Merseyside, for more than 20 years, is a danger to the public. "Margo and has never hurt a child or anyone else to my knowledge," said Mr Jones, a 49-year-old car worker. "We originally thought she was a Marmoset, which is a tiny breed you don't need a licence for. "We found out recently she is a Macaque, which is officially classed as a dangerous wild animal. That is what has caused all the fuss. "It is ludicrous because Margo has been out of the wild for so long she doesn't know the meaning of the word dangerous. "She is absolutely beautiful, with big blue eyes and a cheeky grin. She likes nothing better than to sit in front of the telly with a plate of curry and chips. "We are broken hearted at the prospect of losing her. We can't afford to double glaze the house. It will cost thousands." A spokeswoman for Knowsley Council said they were acting on the advice of a vet who had confirmed Margo was classed as a dangerous wild animal. Mr Jones had been told he must reinforce his home with toughened glass to obtain a licence to keep Margo.

The Associated Press
June 4, 1993, Friday, AM cycle

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend's pet monkey out of jealousy was acquitted of animal cruelty and burglary charges.

James Mardis, 21, was found innocent Thursday by a Superior Court jury in Van Nuys after a four-day trial. He could have faced up to nine years in prison.

Victoria Walker, a 26-year-old exotic dancer, claimed that Mardis beat to death her 7-month-old Capuchin monkey, Amanda, at her apartment in 1992.

Walker, who said she diapered the animal and bottle-fed it, testified that Mardis was jealous because she gave the pet more attention than him.

Mardis, however, accused Walker of mistreating the animal by giving it vodka and drugs.

A neighbor testified to seeing a frightened-looking Mardis leaving the apartment's back door the night that the 2 -pound monkey was found with a crushed skull.

Another witness said Mardis had what appeared to be monkey bites on his hand.

Mardis denied killing the pet.

"I've always been an animal lover," Mardis said after the verdict.

The Boston Globe
May 1, 1993, Saturday, City Edition
How much is that lion in the window?
ANIMAL BEAT

BY: By Vicki Croke, Globe Staff

Larry Wallach of Long Island has a 4-year-old cougar named Mugsy. Wallach says that though the cat is in heat and "driving me crazy," she has never bitten him and she is "the best pet" he has ever owned.

Kathi Travers, the exotic animal expert for the ASPCA, and a friend of Wallach's, has a different story. Travers says Mugsy has bitten Wallach at least six times and that while playing the animal goes for the back of his neck. Travers calls the situation "an accident waiting to happen." Wallach has the means to give the 150-pound cougar good food, great health care and a decent enclosure, but Travers says if the cat gets too rough and animal control is called in, the cougar could end up being killed. "I fear getting that phone call that something has happened," Travers says. "Larry can be replaced, but I'm worried Mugsy will be shot."

So why do people buy exotic pets - chimpanzees, tigers, lions, bears, monkeys, birds - if they're so much trouble? Because they "love" animals. The impulse is one many animal lovers can understand - after all, we saw "Born Free" and read "Ring of Bright Water." But while exotics start off cute and cuddly, by sexual maturity, most of them become dangerous. Our pets and farm animals have been domesticated over thousands of years, and it appears they have a certain affinity for domestication (unlike the zebra, for instance, which despite all efforts insists on staying wild).

An adorable chimpanzee can weigh about 100 pounds and be three times as strong as Arnold Schwarzenegger (but unlike the actor, the chimp cannot be housebroken). The lion cub once bottle-fed, as an adult, kill in a single swat.

A National Geographic producer who filmed the documentary "Born Wild" says, "The stories of wild animals kept as pets very rarely have happy endings." These animals often have their teeth pulled and claws yanked out; chimps may have their thumbs amputated; they are castrated, chained and finally abandoned. They are often lame from poor diet and bald not only from nutritional problems, but because they often neurotically pluck their own hair. Some are sold to hunting parks and shot for trophies.

Travers tries to be there to pick up the pieces. She has rescued an African lion named Stanley from a transmission shop in Yonkers (he's at Tippi Hedren's Shambala preserve now), a capuchin monkey named Bubbles from a dumpster. And the ASPCA took a caiman (from the Crocodilia family) out of a catering hall in Astoria. Travers says that "when New Yorkers say it's a jungle out there - it really is."

There's a reason we don't have these stories in Massachusetts. Laws regulating exotics vary by state, and ours are among the strictest. But Massachusetts is small potatoes. According to the Humane Society of the United States, the exotic pet trade is a huge and lucrative one. Man's Best Friends, a well-known exotic animal business in Fort Lauderdale, will quote you prices on just about anything that moves. An African elephant is about $ 17,000 (shipping is extra), a cougar is $ 1,800 to $ 2,000, a pair of baby buffaloes is $ 2,500 ($ 800 delivery charge) and a squirrel monkey is $ 1,600.

It is mostly monkeys Travers ends up rescuing. Cute little squirrel monkeys, vervets and capuchins. Cute little monkeys with lightning-fast reflexes and sharp teeth. "Jack Hanna and Jim Fowler won't show you their scars," Travers says, referring to the TV naturalists who often appear on camera cuddling baby exotics, "but this Irish broad from Boston will. I'd be the last person to tell you monkeys aren't cute, but they will bite the hell out of you." One woman asked Travers why her monkey was biting her - did it mean the animal didn't love her? "Monkeys bite," Travers says; "they don't need a reason to do it."

Travers is fascinated by monkeys and cares for a number of those that are hard to place. "But people are shocked," Travers says, "that my mutt Diamond is my favorite animal. I wouldn't trade that dog for a barrelful of monkeys. I have developed a real fondness for monkeys, a respect for primates, but we have to know the difference between love and respect."

When Travers receives an animal that is bald and paralyzed from poor nutrition, that has been castrated and therefore cannot be placed within a social group, that has been defanged or declawed, she gets angry. "There has to be a limit to our love. If you really love animals, learn about them and work toward protecting their habitat."

And if being bitten or getting feces all over your furniture doesn't get to you, there's something even scarier about getting a pet monkey - according to the Centers for Disease Control, they can carry viruses that are dangerous to humans. Kathi Travers is alive despite what is thought to have been a nasty brush with the Ebola virus.

If you have questions, you can contact Travers at the ASPCA, 424 East 92d St., New York, NY 10128, or call (212) 876-7700.

Legal beagle: A burglar tiptoes in through your kitchen window and your dog makes burgoo out of him. The good news is that it's not a recipe for disaster. According to animal rights lawyer Steven Wise, you are not liable for damage your dog does to someone who is committing trespass or "other tort." So what's the other tort? Slandering you? "Well, yes," Wise says, "if your dog took exception to that, you wouldn't be held liable." Basically, it's OK with the law for your dog to defend you during a robbery, carjacking or assault (as long as you're not the one committing the crime).

This rule - Chapter 140, Section 155, of the Massachusetts General Law - goes on to say that you're also not liable for damage sustained when someone is "teasing, tormenting or abusing" your dog. So, teasers and tormenters, go ahead, make Fifi's day.

The Jerusalem Post
November 15, 1992, Sunday

REAL MONKEY BUSINESS

BY: D'vora Ben Shaul

THE recent attack on a child in Eilat by an escaped pet monkey reinforces my opinion that monkeys do not make good pets. People are fascinated by monkeys; they are so human-like. Most people are greatly disappointed by pet monkeys. But with proper facilities, these pets can be a joy.

THE recent attack on a child in Eilat by an escaped pet monkey reinforces my opinion that monkeys do not make good pets. People are fascinated by monkeys; they are so human-like. Most people are greatly disappointed by pet monkeys. But with proper facilities, these pets can be a joy.

I don't recommend them as pets because of the special conditions they require; in captivity, their place is in a zoo. But people who want to keep them should know their needs. Over the years I have kept pet vervets, baboons, squirrel monkeys, spider monkeys, chimpanzees and orangutans. To stay in good health, they require similar conditions.

However charming a pet monkey is running free in the house, it usually takes about 10 minutes for an owner to decide to limit the animal's freedom somewhat; that is about the time it takes one scampering monkey to wreck a room. A monkey needs a stout cage, roomy enough for the owner to get into with ease. When the pet is taken out to play, a waist belt (never a collar) and a good leather leash are essential.

A MONKEY'S cage should be on a balcony or patio, protected from wind, completely dry, and with an option of sun and shade. Even in Jerusalem, a monkey does well outside - except for the tiny squirrel monkeys and animals less than a year old - if the cage is in a wind-free corner and the sleeping box double-walled, insulated and not too large, so the monkey's body heats the space.

The box should have a fairly small door, just big enough to get in and out of, and a hinged top for cleaning and to allow access to the animal in all circumstances.

The cage need not take up too much floor space since the monkey prefers vertical space, but should not be too high for the owner to have access to the top if the monkey does not want to come down. (This can happen when it isn't feeling well but doesn't want to be given medicine or be examined by the vet. )

As for diet, all monkeys love fresh vegetables, fruit, hard-boiled eggs, porridge with milk, milk drinks and sweets, as well as nuts and seeds (the latter preferably unsalted).

But monkeys are not total vegetarians; in the wild, they eat insects, like grasshoppers and locusts, and small birds; larger apes even eat small mammals. In zoos, they are given a bit of boiled chicken or even meat patties, and many zoos raise locusts for them.

The problem with monkeys, however, is that they tend to bite; even the tamest monkey will bite if annoyed. That is its natural way of expressing anger or frustration.

Monkeys should never be trusted with young children. Older owners may want to risk a monkey bite, but should never let a toddler approach an uncaged monkey or put fingers in a cage even if the monkey is the sweetest little darling.

Monkeys suffer from most human diseases and can get anything from the common cold to mumps. They should always be under the care of a reliable vet, preferably one with solid experience of zoo practice.

They need vaccinations just like children, and should be checked at least twice a year by the doctor.

SINCE KEEPING the greater apes such as chimps and gorillas is out of the question for most people, the popular pets are spider monkeys, squirrel monkeys, vervets, capuchins and rhesus, usually bought in a pet shop. Make sure the dealer gives you a written undertaking to take back the animal within three days if the vet certifies it is not well. Insist on the three days (not on a weekend) so that the vet can have blood tests and feces examinations made if he sees fit. If a dealer will not do this, don't buy from him.

Never allow anyone to persuade you to take a baboon. Few creatures are sweeter than a baby baboon, but there are few more vicious than an adult one. When it is about a year old, you will be forced to get rid of it, for it will be truly dangerous. And with zoos often overstocked with baboons, your pet may have to be destroyed.

The Houston Chronicle
October 18, 1992

Wayward chimp returns

The owner of a chimpanzee that escaped, bit a 15-year-old boy and threw his 77-year-old grandmother to the ground says there will be no more monkey business from the animal.

Sydney, a 180-pound chimp who escaped Monday, is back in his cage to stay, says Karen Glass, who with her husband owns the Sunrise Ranch at Dripping Springs where the chimp has lived for about a year.

""Everything is just under control now. Everyone is doing fine and it won't happen again,'' Glass said Tuesday. ""He just bent the bars and got out, and there weren't any major injuries. ''

The boy was treated for a bite to the hand at a minor emergency clinic, and his grandmother received facial injuries from being pushed to the ground.

Sheriff's deputies and an animal control officer were able to get the animal back to the ranch, where it went back into the cage on its own.

""He didn't really like being out all that much either,'' Glass said.

USA TODAY
September 24, 1992, Thursday, FINAL EDITION

BRENTWOOD, TENNESSEE - Mack and Jean Roberts have 40 days to get rid of some of their 11 pets - including cougars, monkeys and a zebra. A judge gave the order because of neighbors' complaints. Neighbor Hazel Hamlett said she's been attacked 3 times by monkeys.

Orange County Register (California)
July 23, 1992 Thursday MORNING EDITION
Bengal tiger cubs confiscated;
Police arrest man with exotic cats at mall (Head varies in PM)

BY: Donna Davis, The Orange County Register

NEWPORT BEACH, CA -- Eric Martin Jarvies looked like he belonged at Fashion Island: His sunglasses rested atop his head. And he was sitting outside the mall in his black BMW convertible with the top down.

Then somebody looked in the back seat and called police.

Nestled on the leather upholstery were two Bengal tiger cubs that investigators say Jarvies was hawking for $ 10,000 a piece.

The cubs _ 15 pounds each, taffy-colored and in poor health _ were taken into protective custody at a Newport Beach shelter.

Jarvies, 23, of Pahrump, Nevada, was arrested Tuesday night _ his third citation on charges of illegally selling or possessing
exotic animals. It was the second time he was busted at Fashion Island.

"You'd think the guy would get the message," said Newport Beach police Sgt. Andy Gonis. "He's been run out of town before. "

Two months ago, he was escorted with seven African lion cubs to the Arizona state line by state Department of Fish and Game authorities, who have jurisdiction over exotic animals.

He said at the time that he and colleague Bruce Miller, 26, of Newport Beach owned the seven de-clawed lion cubs, ages 4 to 15 months. He told police he bought them in Kansas.

Jarvies and Miller were cited for possessing, transporting and attempting to sell the lion cubs from Miller's now-closed San
Clemente health food store without city, state and federal permits.

Jarvies also had an outstanding warrant stemming from a February incident at Fashion Island in which a monkey in Jarvies' possession bit a woman, police said.

He was cited again Tuesday on charges of possessing exotic animals without a permit, a violation of state law. Police said
they did not know where Jarvies got the cubs.

He posted $ 11,040 bail and was out of custody by midnight and nowhere to be found on Wednesday.

"Good day. Eric and his band of crazy cats deeply regret that the Phone Mate is not working and will not accept messages," he said in a recorded message on his answering machine at his home.

Jarvies is scheduled to appear Sept. 1 in Orange County Harbor Municipal Court in Newport Beach.

The cubs were taken to the Dover Shores Pet Care Center in Costa Mesa. They will remain at the center, an animal halfway house, as evidence in the case, police said.

Bruce Bauersfeld, center director, said the striped cubs, who still have their kitten fur, are in poor health.

"They're adorable," he said. "They're fluffy and friendly and cute as can be. They screech loud like a combination of an
elehant's trumpet and a lion's roar.

"They're also in serious need of nutrition. They've been eating nothing but hamburger meatballs. "

One of the cubs has the sniffles, he said. The other has parasites. The cubs were not de-clawed.

The state no longer issues permits for individual ownership of lions, tigers and other wild animals as pets, said Capt. Jack
Edwards of the California Department of Fish and Game in Sacramento.

"The only people who are authorized to possess any of those kinds of species are zoos, scientific organizations and educational organizations," he said.

Persons who acquired permits before the law changed several years ago are allowed to keep their pets until the animals die,
Edwards said.

USA TODAY

July 16, 1992, Thursday, FINAL EDITION

ALBANY, NEW YORK - Transit Authority clerk Kevin Brown was given a tetanus shot after the pet monkey of a man he had just asked to leave a downtown subway station because the animal wasn't caged slapped him on the head. The man was complying with Brown's request Tuesday when the animal reacted.

The Associated Press
July 15, 1992
New York Subway Clerk Slapped by Pesky Pet

The law of the jungle briefly ruled in a subway station when a token clerk was slapped in the head by a pet monkey, an official said Wednesday.

Kevin Brown was scratched three times after he told the monkey's owner he could not bring the leased simian into the station, said Charles Seaton, Transit Authority spokesman.

"It's possible the monkey was being playful or it could've been out of anger," Seaton said. The owner did not sic the monkey on Brown, Seaton said.

Brown was inspecting a turnstile Tuesday evening when the man and his monkey, named Cheetah, entered the station at 34th Street and Seventh Avenue.

When asked to leave, the man agreed but Cheetah suddenly scratched Brown, who received a tetanus shot at a hospital.

"You don't expect to see this happen to you every day," Seaton said.

United Press International
July 6, 1992, Monday, BC cycle

Marauding monkeys plague Miami

MIAMI, FL -- Rogue monkeys with bad tempers have bitten a toddler, attacked a policeman and terrorized a suburban parking lot in recent weeks, animal control officers said.

The monkeys are rhesus and Java macaques, types too rare and dangerous to be loose on the streets, said Monkey Jungle veterinarian Thomas Goldsmith.

They are extremely aggressive and may carry the herpes B virus, which could be fatal to humans if not diagnosed and treated promptly, he said.

''For some reason, we've had an unbelievable rise in macaques in south Florida in the last two months,'' said Lt. Kat Kelley of the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, which is trying to determine whether the animals escaped or were let loose by their owners.

Macaques are native to Asia, Africa and the East Indies and are primarily used for research. Kelley has called local breeders and labs but none reported any monkeys missing.

''They're like little escaped convicts when they get loose. They're causing quite a disturbance,'' said Todd Hardwick, owner of an animal capture company called Pesky Critters.

Hardwick has been summoned to capture three roving macaques in the past three weeks.

He was called to corral the monkey that bit a 2-year-old Opa-locka girl so doctors could determine whether the animal had rabies.

The monkey took refuge in a tree above a junkyard guarded by dogs, preventing Hardwick from getting a clear shot at it with his tranquilizer gun.

He finally shot and killed the monkey when it charged him. It did not have rabies.

Two weeks later, another macaque was spotted trying to open car doors in an parking lot south of Miami.

''He was acting like a little crook,'' delivery driver Ralph Mingo said. ''If the car was empty, he'd try to open the door. I told him 'No, ' and he charged me.''

Hardwick said the parking lot looked like a circus when he arrived. Office workers were feeding the 15-pound monkey bananas and peaches and giving it water in a Styrofoam cup. Hardwick captured it with the aid of his tranquilizer gun.

On June 28, Hardwick was called to capture another monkey that attacked police cars, officers and bystanders at a Hialeah intersection.

The monkey charged a policeman, who considered shooting the animal, but opted instead to take shelter in his patrol car while the animal attacked his red and blue roof lights.

Hardwick finally tranquilized the monkey after it hopped onto a passing car and tried to climb through the window to fight the driver's dog.

''They're very intelligent. From the moment you put them in a cage they're planning their escape. You drop your guard for a moment and they're gone,'' Hardwick said.

The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec)
June 7, 1992, Sunday, FINAL EDITION
Trendy pet ends up on death row at SPCA

BY: PAUL WALDIE; GAZETTE

Kiki's days are numbered.

Kiki is a 3-year-old Japanese macaque monkey. He was taken to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals three months ago by his owner.

The woman bought Kiki as a baby from a pet store and soon discovered that living with a monkey isn't easy.

"I think he bit someone and she got scared," SPCA wildlife officer Tony Casu said.

"These monkeys are very aggressive. I won't go into the cage with him. We had a macaque here before. Someone started playing with him and the monkey broke the guy's wrist."

The SPCA is trying to find a zoo or wildlife sanctuary that will take Kiki. So far, there are no takers. That's because Kiki was raised as a pet and doesn't know how to interact with other monkeys, Casu said.

"We've exhausted every option," SPCA spokesman Joanna Dupras said.

"Now it's up to our wildlife committee. If they can't place him, we'll have to put him down."

Kiki is one of thousands of exotic pets that are dropped off at the SPCA every year.

Last year, more than 9,000 unusual pets were left at the society. They included 26 bats, three chinchillas, 77 doves, 12 snakes, 15 lizards, 50 parrots, about 180 ferrets and more than 740 skunks.

More than half of the animals either died at the SPCA or were put to sleep. The others were adopted by a new owner or placed in a wildlife refuge.

Selling exotic pets such as monkeys or snakes is not illegal in Quebec. Many are sold by zoos trying to unload excess litters. Even endangered species that have been bred in Canada can be sold legally.

"You can walk down the street with a lion on a leash if you want," Casu said.

He said he hopes the province will pass a proposed law that would ban the sale of exotic pets.

The SPCA has become a dumping ground for fad pets, Casu added. For example, as a result of the Ninja turtle craze, the SPCA was stuck with more than 600 turtles last year.

Pet rats have become another headache. Last year, more than 500 rats were brought in.

"People see these animals in the stores and they look so cute," Dupras said. "They are well intentioned. But most have no idea how hard it is to take care of them."

Ron Lazanik, 23, found out. Now, he's trying to sell Rat Trap, his pet python.

"They are really expensive to keep," he said. "I'm also moving into a smaller apartment and I just can't keep it. I probably would have only kept it for a few more years anyway. They get too big."

Big indeed. Some adult pythons are 10 feet long and eight inches wide. They also live for about 70 years and have an appetite big enough to - literally - eat a horse.

And if Lazanik can't sell Rat Trap? "There is always some novice out there who will take it."

The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
May 6, 1992, Wednesday
Michael the monkey on lam from the law Talks on finger-biting may save simian's life

BY: By Rob Johnson STAFF WRITERanimals; health; safety; disease

While lawyers were debating whether he would live or die, Michael, the 2-year-old squirrel monkey, went underground.

Normally he lives in a tall white cage at Pet Kingdom Inc., a Norcross exotic-animal store. But nine days ago, a browsing teenager allegedly reached through a 1 1/4-inch opening in the cage, and Michael allegedly bit her finger.

The parents of the unidentified girl want Michael's head, according to Michael's owner: Decapitation is the only way to know for sure if the monkey has rabies.

And the county will insist that the monkey be tested, Gwinnett County attorney Richard Carrothers said Wednesday evening.

"I have to make sure that the county does everything it's obligated to," Mr. Carrothers said. "What would you do if it were your 15-year-old? That's our position."

So, on the advice of lawyer Gordon Lamb, who's taken the case for free, Michael went into hiding.

"You can't kill what you can't find," Mr. Lamb said on behalf of Alex Phanich, the pet shop owner.

"Monkeys bite sometimes. I've been bitten. Almost any kind of pet will bite you every now and then," Mr. Phanich said Wednesday above a jungle-like din.

He pointed to a sign above the now-empty cage that seemed to back him up: "Hands Off. I bite hard." Mr. Phanich said he warned the girl as well that the monkey might bite.

The girl's parents could not be reached for comment.

Since the incident nine days ago, Mr. Phanich and Mr. Lamb have been negotiating with Gwinnett County attorneys in an effort to keep Michael out of the county animal control office.

A Gwinnett County Superior Court judge refused a temporary restraining order to prevent the county from having Michael killed, but Mr. Lamb said Wednesday he had not received an order to turn the monkey over to county authorities, either.

Federal and state health officials said Wednesday the chance that a monkey born and raised in captivity could contract rabies and then transmit the disease to a human is very low.

In fact, there have been no documented cases of monkeys carrying rabies in the United States, according to Dr. Iyorlumun Uhaa, an epidemiologist at the national Centers for Disease Control.

"Federal guidelines say that if you get bitten by a wild animal you cannot capture, get the shots. And if you fear rabies from a valuable animal and the owner won't agree to let it be tested, get the shots," Dr. Uhaa said.

He said the once-feared rabies injections, which used to be given in the stomach, have been replaced by a series of five shots in the arm.

Michael is worth about $ 2,500, Mr. Lamb said.

In the meantime, it looked as if the monkey might dodge an early death.

Mr. Phanich said the lawyers and the girl's parents agreed Tuesday night to let him pay the $ 500 medical bill.

Wednesday, though, the father upped the demand to $ 1,000, according to Mr. Lamb.

The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
May 6, 1992, Wednesday

Michael the monkey on lam from the law Talks on finger-biting may save simian's life

By Rob Johnson STAFF WRITERanimals; health; safety; disease

While lawyers were debating whether he would live or die, Michael, the 2-year-old squirrel monkey, went underground.

Normally he lives in a tall white cage at Pet Kingdom Inc., a Norcross exotic-animal store. But nine days ago, a browsing teenager allegedly reached through a 1 1/4-inch opening in the cage, and Michael allegedly bit her finger.

The parents of the unidentified girl want Michael's head, according to Michael's owner: Decapitation is the only way to know for sure if the monkey has rabies.

And the county will insist that the monkey be tested, Gwinnett County attorney Richard Carrothers said Wednesday evening.

"I have to make sure that the county does everything it's obligated to," Mr. Carrothers said. "What would you do if it were your 15-year-old? That's our position."

So, on the advice of lawyer Gordon Lamb, who's taken the case for free, Michael went into hiding.

"You can't kill what you can't find," Mr. Lamb said on behalf of Alex Phanich, the pet shop owner.

"Monkeys bite sometimes. I've been bitten. Almost any kind of pet will bite you every now and then," Mr. Phanich said Wednesday above a jungle-like din.

He pointed to a sign above the now-empty cage that seemed to back him up: "Hands Off. I bite hard." Mr. Phanich said he warned the girl as well that the monkey might bite.

The girl's parents could not be reached for comment.

Since the incident nine days ago, Mr. Phanich and Mr. Lamb have been negotiating with Gwinnett County attorneys in an effort to keep Michael out of the county animal control office.

A Gwinnett County Superior Court judge refused a temporary restraining order to prevent the county from having Michael killed, but Mr. Lamb said Wednesday he had not received an order to turn the monkey over to county authorities, either.

Federal and state health officials said Wednesday the chance that a monkey born and raised in captivity could contract rabies and then transmit the disease to a human is very low.

In fact, there have been no documented cases of monkeys carrying rabies in the United States, according to Dr. Iyorlumun Uhaa, an epidemiologist at the national Centers for Disease Control.

"Federal guidelines say that if you get bitten by a wild animal you cannot capture, get the shots. And if you fear rabies from a valuable animal and the owner won't agree to let it be tested, get the shots," Dr. Uhaa said.

He said the once-feared rabies injections, which used to be given in the stomach, have been replaced by a series of five shots in the arm.

Michael is worth about $ 2,500, Mr. Lamb said.

In the meantime, it looked as if the monkey might dodge an early death.

Mr. Phanich said the lawyers and the girl's parents agreed Tuesday night to let him pay the $ 500 medical bill.

Wednesday, though, the father upped the demand to $ 1,000, according to Mr. Lamb.

April 26, 1991, Friday , FINAL
LITTLE RHESUS MAKES MONKEY OF HER OWNER

BY: Michael A. Barber P-I Reporter

A pet monkey made a monkey out of her owner in the Roosevelt District, police said yesterday.

The 25-pound rhesus monkey, under 4 feet tall, fought two men who tried to beat her early Tuesday. One was her 33-year-old, 300-pound owner, who was cut severely during the fight and was taken to Harborview Medical Center's emergency room, police said.

A caller to 911 told officers that two men were beating the primate in an alley behind the 6400 block of Brooklyn Avenue Northeast shortly after midnight Tuesday. When police arrived, they spotted the monkey inside a nearby house.

Officers tried to question the pet's owner, but he reportedly became argumentative and uncooperative and refused to let them examine the monkey.

As the monkey looked on, the man fell to the ground. Police said it took 10 minutes to get him up, but he refused to get into the patrol car.

Once inside the car, the man reportedly kicked at the door and windows to be let out. He told officers he had become angry at his pet because she had gotten out of her cage, according to a police report.

Police said they took the man to Harborview because the monkey had bitten him on the forehead. He was not admitted. The man was not arrested, but police gave the case to Seattle animal control officials to investigate.

The monkey was taken to Woodland Park Zoo for temporary shelter. She was reported doing fine yesterday.

USA TODAY
April 25, 1991, Thursday, FINAL EDITION

OKLAHOMA CITY - Rabies epidemic - 250 cases - is expected by '92 with skunks leading culprit, health department said. Pet monkey was killed Tuesday after it bit 5-year-old. Both are being tested for rabies. State has found 66 rabid animals this year - 56 were skunks. '91: 132 cases. Blamed: Migrating skunks.

St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
October 23, 1990, Tuesday, City Edition
Capturing monkey is serious business

BY: MARK JOURNEY

ST. PETERSBURG, FL. - Ruth Bell said police thought she was drunk when she told them a monkey had scampered into her kitchen and stolen a piece of chicken.

"They said, "Lady, what have you been drinking?"' Bell said.

But when police arrived on her block Monday afternoon, they found a dark monkey running around the neighborhood.

Bell said police, with the help of an animal expert, came to her home at 2250 25th St. S in St. Petersburg just after 1 p.m. and captured the monkey, but not before it ran off with a piece of Bell's chicken, bit the animal expert and entertained dozens of schoolchildren with its antics.

Police said Bell was preparing to cook chicken early Monday afternoon when the monkey entered her home, jumped on the kitchen counter and grabbed a piece of the meat. Bell couldn't believe what she had seen and started counting her chicken legs, police said.

Only after confronting her husband and granddaughter about the chicken, did Bell realize she really did see a monkey, police said.

They said Bell then noticed the monkey sitting in the living room eating chicken. She screamed and the monkey dropped the chicken and ran away, police said.

Debra Parker of Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Inc. in St. Petersburg also showed up with police. She had been stalking the 6-pound Capuchin monkey since Sunday when several of Bell's neighbors saw the monkey in their back yards. But each time Ms. Parker arrived in the area, the monkey disappeared.

On Monday, she finally saw him.

"When I got there, the monkey was out of the house and running around," she said.

Parker said Bell's small black dog chased the monkey onto a patio at the St. Petersburg Challenge School, just north of her home.

"I didn't have time to put gloves on," Parker said. "I thought, "Oh, my God, it's going to go into the school and bite somebody and scare the kids half to death."'

She said she ran up the ramp to the patio and reached for the monkey. When she grabbed it, the monkey bit her. Schoolchildren were cheering.

"All the kids were watching," Parker said. "I got a standing ovation."

She said the monkey was wearing a black leather collar and a tag that read "Cleo." The tag said Cleo lived at 2335 Murilla Way S. Police found two other caged monkeys at the home but were unable to contact the owner Monday afternoon.

San Antonio Business Journal
July 4, 1988

Local Biomedical Lab Isolates Herpes Virus

Paul H. Carr

San Antonio; TX - A small child, in a potentially fatal incident, was bitten by a pet monkey while visiting a neighbor's home in Edgewood, Ky. Although the bite itself was not serious, the child could have been infected by the herpes B virus, a virus that offers no danger to monkeys but is deadly to humans.

The child's doctor and a local veterinarian placed an urgent call to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta for help. But the federal medical research center said it couldn't help them because it does not have the expertise on this deadly disease. Instead, the child's worried doctors were referred to the sole research center in the United States that could help them -- the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in San Antonio.

Dr. Julia K. Hilliard, the country's top expert on the deadly herpes B virus, asked for blood samples from both the monkey and the child. The samples were delivered overnight and the tests conducted in a matter of hours. The doctors were called and given the good news: The child is not infected.

This incident, which occurred the second week of June, shows the lifesaving significance of research being conducted in the 130 laboratories at the foundation's 821-acre site on West Loop 410 at Military Drive West.

Although Hilliard's primary purpose is research on monkeys, a test she developed in 1985 to isolate the herpes B virus in the animals also can be used to test humans who have been bitten or scratched by monkeys.

Hilliard is an associate scientist in the department of virology and immunology at the Southwest Foundation.

"We're the only lab in the country working with this particular agent," Hilliard said. Because of the volume of diagnostic tests conducted at the non-profit foundation, the charge for the lab test is only $ 35, she said. Part of the expense involved in the tests is subsidized by an emergency one-year $ 46,250 supplemental grant by the National Institutes for Health, she said.

Because the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research is the only lab in the United States that has isolated the herpes B virus, between 200 and 500 blood samples from monkeys and humans from all over the country are sent to San Antonio for testing each month, she said. Roughly a third of the tests involve humans who have been bitten or scratched by monkeys, she said. Rarely is the disease transmitted to humans.

Infected humans develop flulike symptoms but are killed by encephalitis, which is an inflammation of the brain.

Survivors "in general have central nervous system disorders that will occur over the remainder of their lifetime," Hilliard said. These disorders include intense pain, sensitivity to heat and light, and temporary memory loss.

Most injuries to humans involve researchers and monkey handlers, she said, although two children were bitten by pet monkeys last month.

There were only 25 cases of humans becoming infected with the lethal virus from early 1950s until 1973. Twenty of those people died, she said, while the five survivors have been so severely affected they have not been able to return to work or live normal lives.

For the next 14 years, there was not a single case of the disease, until an outbreak occurred among handlers at the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory in Pensacola, Fla., in spring 1987. Four people were infected, and two died. The two survivors were started on an anti-rival medication before the flu-like symptoms began, which arrested the disease and has allowed them to resume relatively normal lives, Hilliard said. Yet, they must take pills five times a day for the rest of their lives to prevent the disease from flaring up and killing them. There is no cure.

Hilliard, who joined the foundation in 1980, developed the test for diagnosing the herpes B virus in 1985. Prior to 1985, there was no test that could positively identify the deadly disease. Now, by being able to determine quickly whether or not a person is infected, the medication can begin before the disease's flu-like symptoms appear, she said, which is why there are two survivors of the disease in Florida.

In the case involving the child in Kentucky, the test determined the child was not infected.

This lifesaving benefit to humans is a spin-off from the research Hilliard is conducting to isolate the virus in monkeys. She hopes to eventually develop a vaccine to cure herpes B-infected monkeys.

The reason for curing the monkeys, even though the virus causes them no harm, is to developed disease-free monkey colonies, Hilliard said. These then could be used for worldwide research on the deadly Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS. Five foundation scientists participated in the Fourth International Conference on AIDS in mid-June in Stockholm, Sweden, with two of them addressing the world AIDS summit.

United Press International
June 23, 1988, Thursday, PM cycle
Bubba leads police in monkey chase

SHIRLEY, N.Y. - Bubba, a 2-foot-tall spider monkey, turned a quiet Long Island community into a primate's paradise by sending police on a three-hour monkey chase before returning to its suburban home.

The monkey's escapades began Thursday when Bubba, alone in its home at 41 Melba Drive, ripped open the screen on a basement window to get out of the house, Suffolk County Police said.

Bubba then chased several neighborhood children and tore the screens from two other homes in the area before police were summoned.

''When police arrived, the monkey jumped on the top of the prowl car and then took off with police in pursuit of him,'' the spokesman said.

''After awhile, he returned to his house and tried to hide in a tree, where he was guarded by two family Rottweiler dogs,'' the spokesman said. The dogs backed off only after police sprayed them with an odorous chemical agent.

Bubba's antics ended when it jumped from the tree and climbed through the same basement window from which it had made its escape three hours before.

The monkey's owner had not returned home, so police sealed the window, the spokesman said.

Neighbors told police that Bubba's owner recently moved into the house, and they did not know his name.

But the neighborhood children knew the monkey's name, because it had escaped from the house once before.

United Press International
March 31, 1988, Thursday, PM cycle
Monkey owner tries to save pet

MINNEAPOLIS -- A woman bitten by her pet monkey was trying to stop health officials considering killing the tiny animal and testing it for rabies.

The small squirrel monkey, Jackie, was the subject of a search by police after it bit its owner on March 20. State health officials want Jackie killed to determine if it has rabies, even though the owner, Bonnie Malnati of Champlin, is already undergoing rabies shots so that the animal can live.

''As long as I'm willing to take the shots and it's my health, leave the monkey live,'' Malnati said.

The brown monkey, which weighs only 1 pounds, was hidden most of Wednesday by a friendly veterinarian but was picked up by Champlin police Wednesday night and taken to the University of Minnesota veterinary hospitals where a spokesman said it would be kept in isolation until further instructions from the health department.

Animal rights groups were trying to get a court injunction to prevent Jackie from being killed.

Michael Osterholm, the state's chief epidemiologist, said the monkey could appear to be in perfect health but could be carrying the rabies virus. He said he contacted seven national experts on rabies and all agreed the monkey should be killed and tested.

He said under state directive, Dr. Stan Diesch of the university will examine the animal and report his findings to state Health Commissioner Mary Madonna Ashton. The final decision about killing and testing the monkey will rest with her, Osterholm said.

U.P.I.
July 30, 1987, Thursday, AM cycle

Condemned monkey wins reprieve

SAN ANTONIO - A pet monkey condemned to death for scratching a woman's arm was granted a reprieve after the victim and the animal's owner appealed to a judge to spare the primate's life.

State District Judge Robert Murray issued a temporary injunction Wednesday blocking the destruction of the capuchin monkey, named Daisy, pending a hearing on the case Aug. 19. Dr. Katharine Rathbun, director of the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District, testified the law requires that all exotic animals that bite or scratch humans be killed so their brains can be examined to determine if they have rabies.

But witnesses testifying for Daisy told the judge rabies among monkeys is extremely rare.

A San Antonio Zoo supervisor testified the zoo never has killed monkeys that bite caretakers or visitors, and Daisy's owner said killing her pet would be too harsh a consequence for a scratch.

''She's scratched me several times,'' JoAnn Martin said. ''She plays very much like a kitten or a puppy would.''

Even the victim testified for the defense.

Ellen Candia said she was willing to take rabies shots and did not want Daisy to die. Candia testified Daisy, who was inside a cage in a garden shop, reached out between the bars and grabbed her in a playful manner, inflicting three tiny scratches that did not bleed.

The Associated Press
January 14, 1986, Tuesday, AM cycle
Escaped Monkey Captured In Bucks County

CROYDON, PA - An escaped monkey who helps a handicapped man around the house has been recaptured in a warehouse where she tripped a burglar alarm, turned on water spigots, opened a refrigerator and shredded several packages.

Police found Marilyn the monkey inside an Alpha Aromatics Inc. warehouse Monday after a burglar alarm went off several times.

"She's not coming out of the house after this," said David Pearson, a quadriplegic whose small Capuchin monkey is one of seven on the East Coast trained to live with people who are paralyzed. The monkeys can do such things as fetch drinks, pick up the telephone, prop open books and load a cassette recorder.

Marilyn escaped from her cage Saturday and ran from Pearson's parked van into a wooded area in Bristol Township.

Marilyn has lived with the Medford, N.J., couple since August, helping Pearson, who is paralyzed below the neck from a car wreck 13 years ago.

"She's like a child, really. Losing her is like losing a child," said Mrs. Pearson of the 7 to 8 year old monkey who weighs 5 1/2 pounds and is 18 inches tall. All of her teeth have been pulled.

During her training at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, Marilyn gained a reputation for her escapes, several times sending her handlers climbing trees to catch her, said Mary J. Willard, a New York psychologist who spent more than a year training the monkey.

One time, she pushed open a heavy steel door, walked into another lab and released several dozen mice, ruining an experiment, Ms. Willard said.

The Associated Press
September 10, 1984, Monday, PM cycle

Judge to Decide if Man Can Keep Monkey
KALAMAZOO, Mich.

A district judge says he will decide something Terry Miller and Kalamazoo officials can't agree about: whether Joey, Miller's pet monkey, is domesticated.

City officials have taken Miller to court for violating the city's ordinance against keeping undomesticated animals. But that description doesn't fit Joey, Miller says.

"Joey is 11 months old and he is as domesticated as any other household pet," said Miller, 31, of Kalamazoo. "He wears clothes, diapers and takes baths. He's like a little person."

"He lives in my home, he eats breakfast with me and he's like a child," Miller said. "He is funny and he's decent. He plays for hours with my dog and cat.

"Before I get rid of Joey I will put my house up for sale," Miller vowed. "I'll leave Kalamazoo. Right now I'm feeling pretty paranoid."

Assistant City Attorney Lawrence W. Newmeyer said last week that he would drop the case if Miller would give Joey to a zoo. But Miller said several zoos already have turned down his offer to do just that, saying the monkey was too domesticated.

Miller's troubles began when Kalamazoo County animal control officers responded to a complaint about wild monkeys at Miller's home.

Miller denied the charge and produced papers from a Cincinnati-based pet store _ where he bought Joey for $1,500 _ stating Joey was domesticated.

Ninth District Judge Donald E. James said last week during a pre-trial conference that the court must determine what defines an undomesticated animal under the city ordinance.

James scheduled another pre-trial hearing for Oct. 11.

The city adopted the animal ordinance several years ago after officials learned about a man who took his pet lion on long walks through the city, Newmeyer said.

The Associated Press
September 6, 1983, Tuesday, PM cycle

Monkey Survives Legal Fight But Dies Of 'Broken Heart'

GLEN BURNIE, Md. A pet monkey that bit a man and then was snatched by animal lovers determined to save it from health authorities has died of what its owner says was "a broken heart."

Missy, a 13-year-old spider monkey which had spent 14 days in quarantine in an animal shelter, died Monday at a veterinarian's office where its owner had taken it for intravenous feeding and shots against fever. A judge who had ordered Missy into 28-day quarantine on Aug. 18 let the monkey go home Friday after shelter officials reported it was "pining away."

"I guess she thought I had abandoned her," the monkey's tearful owner, Joanne Kolodnicki, said Monday.

The monkey got into trouble Aug. 6 when it bit Miss Kolodnicki's 69-year-old father, John, who was reluctant to take a series of anti-rabies shots.

When the state Health Department wanted to kill Missy to test for rabies, a group calling itself the Primate Protection League grabbed the monkey for safekeeping. In turn, the department took Miss Kolodnicki to court, threatening a $100-a-day fine until the monkey was produced.

Missy's life was spared at an Aug. 14 hearing where Miss Kolodnicki's father agreed to take the shots for his daughter's sake. But the judge still ordered the monkey, by then released by the animal lovers, into the shelter rather than letting Miss Kolodnicki quarantine the animal at home.

Miss Kolodnicki, 41, said she was angry with the state health officials.

"I was steamrollered and got a raw deal," she said, maintaining she should have been allowed to keep the pet at home from the outset. "She meant everything to me. It was like losing someone in the family."

The Washington Post | September 4, 1983, Sunday, Final Edition

Missy, the spider monkey quarantined after biting a Glen Burnie man, is back at home.

Anne Arundel County Judge James Wray signed an order Friday releasing Missy into the custody of its owner, Joanne Kolodnicki, after the monkey's keepers said it was "pining away" at an animal shelter. The order requires that Kolodnicki keep her pet in quarantine until Sept. 16.

Missy bit Kolodnicki's father on Aug. 6, and health and animal control officials sought to have the monkey destroyed so it could be tested for rabies. But the monkey's owner had Missy spirited away and refused to turn her over to be killed.

The compromise of a quarantine was reached when John Kolodnicki, 69, agreed to take a series of rabies shots.

The animal was quarantined on Aug. 22, and Joanne Kolodnicki said then she feared Missy would not survive the quarantine if the animal became depressed. "They have emotions just like a person," Kolodnicki said then. "She doesn't understand what's happening."

The Associated Press
August 18, 1983, Thursday, AM cycle

Monkey Spared After Man Agrees to Take Rabies Shots
By TOM STUCKEY, Associated Press Writer

Missy, a 13-year-old spider monkey who bit an outstretched hand, won a reprieve Thursday when her owner's father agreed to take rabies shots so she wouldn't have to be killed and tested by health officials.

Under a consent decree signed in Circuit Court, Missy will be quarantined for 28 days while 69-year-old John Kolodnicki takes five rabies shots. If all goes well, Missy will then be returned to her owner, Joanne Kolodnicki.

The agreement Thursday ended several days of legal wrangling and maneuvering over the fate of the pet monkey, which bit Kolodnicki on the hand Aug. 6. Miss Kolodnicki, 41, described the bite as a reflex action by Missy when her father reached out to take her hand.

"Missy thought he was going to hurt me," she said.

Her father, who suffered only a minor wound, refused to take anti-rabies shots, despite pressure from state and county health officials.

Miss Kolodnicki, in turn, refused to turn Missy over to the authorities. Insisting that her pet didn't have rabies, she gave Missy to an animal protection group, which spirited the monkey away to a secret location.

On Wednesday, Miss Kolodnicki tried to persuade Dr. Kenneth Crawford, the state veterinarian, to agree to quarantine Missy instead of requiring her father to take the shots.

Maryland law requires, however, that "exotic" animals be killed and tested for rabies if a person who is bitten doesn't take shots. A quarantine period is allowed only for dogs and cats.

Kolodnicki changed his mind about the shots after negotiations broke down Wednesday, and it became apparent the state would not accept any compromise.

Miss Kolodnicki has owned Missy for seven years, and she frequently broke into tears outside the courtroom as she discussed her standoff with health officials.

"The only reason he's taking the shots is because of the way these people (health officials) are bothering me. He's made that quite clear," Miss Kolodnicki said Thursday.

"He knows she (Missy) doesn't have rabies. If he even thought she did, he'd take the shots," she said.

Deputy County Solicitor Victor Sulin described the agreement as one that didn't make anybody happy, "but at least satisfied everybody."

He said the state attorney general's office will look into the possibility of amending state law to deal with such situations in the future.

U.P.I.
August 25, 1982, Wednesday, AM cycle

Monkey business

HARTSDALE, N.Y. - A pet monkey who escaped from its owner while being taken for a walk was recaptured Wednesday by two boys, police, the owner, and a Twinkie-topped banana, authorities said.

A Greenburgh police spokesman said the monkey, whose name is Alfred, escaped from his carrying case about 9 a.m. Tuesday while being taken out for air by his owner, Erica Zern of New York, who was visiting friends in Hartsdale. She told police she has had the 2 pound Capuchin monkey for 17 years.

About 1 p.m. Wednesday, two brothers, ages 14 and 5, spotted the monkey in a plank-covered hole in their backyard. They called police, who summoned Ms. Zern and her father, to come and get him.

Police said the monkey was lured out of the hole by a banana with a Twinkie on top.

No charges were filed against the woman for letting the monkey get loose.

United Press International
July 19, 1982, Monday, AM cycle
Fugitive monkey terrorizes neighborhood

HARTSHORNE, Okla. - For several weeks a daring fugitive terrorized neighborhood dogs, frightened residents -- and gave southeastern Pittsburg County something to chuckle about.

The fugitive is a spider monkey that escaped from veterinarian O'Hara Tyler.

The furry primate has bombarded dogs with charcoal briquettes, left mysterious tracks leading to one resident's door and darted across a road in front of at least one startled driver.

''Could be that this monkey has caused some people around here to quit drinking,'' Police Chief J.D. Young said.

The last sighting was more than one week ago. Young said the monkey may have been killed or sought safety in the rough country surrounding the town of 2,100 in southeastern Oklahoma.

1982 U.P.I.
March 25, 1982, Thursday, AM cycle

Some monkeys aren't very nice

CHICAGO. When Harry and Mary Ann Brandt closed their North Side pet shop and went home for the night, they figured Coco, their 4-year-old Capuchin monkey, would be spending a confortable night in his new cage.

They were wrong. Brandt said when he and his wife returned to their Fishing Schooner pet shop to check on the animals late Saturday, they found four police cars with flashing lights parked in he alley.

''You've got a monkey in there wrecking the place,'' a police officer told them.

The Brandts had purchased the monkey -- the ''typical organ-grinder'' type -- for $250 and invested in a $300 cage they thought was monkey-proof.

''He had opened his cage by unscrewing a plate on the bottom,'' Brandt said. ''A crowd of people 14 deep was outside knocking against the window, egging him on.

''He was opening jars of food, overturning cages, breaking glass. He even opened flip-top cans.''

In the midst of his antics, Coco would pause and hurl himself at the window of the shop, screaming hatred, it seemed, at older women.

''As soon as I walked in, he came right to me,'' said Brandt, who noted Coco really is not vicious. ''Our watchdog, Rover, was in the store. Of course, the monkey likes dogs, so Rover just slept through the whole thing.''

Brandt and his wife spent the night cleaning up the store from the estimated $1,000 damage Coco caused. Then he put three padlocks on Coco's cage.

Brandt said he plans to sell Coco for $500 to $800 -- ''but I might strangle him first.''

1981 U.P.I.
July 31, 1981, Friday, AM cycle

Chimp can't handle all that monkey business

MIAMI - Duchess, a chimpanzee, lived a pampered existence until she grew too large to handle and was shipped off to a zoo nine years ago.

She hasn't adjusted to life in a cage and some experts say she never will. ''She never learned the social graces of a chimp,'' said Bill Zeigler, general curator at the Crandon Park Zoo. ''She grew up all wrong.'' Hialeah contractor Hugh Kirkland and his wife, Bobyjo, bought Duchess for $800 in 1966 and raised her like one of the family.

She drank milk from a bottle, ate strained baby food and was allowed to romp around the house.

''She was a pet, but because of her ability to initiate and show affection, she was just a little bit more than an animal,'' Mrs. Kirkland said. ''She understood a tremendous number of words.''

But Duchess eventually grew to the size of a 4-year-old child and developed the strength of two men. She became hard to handle.

''It's the chimp's nature to challenge,'' Mrs. Kirkland said. ''We knew that we had to show her who was boss. But my husband, who loves her, couldn't strike her.''

Duchess arrived at the zoo in the back seat of a Mercedes sedan, wearing a light blue dress over short pants. Now 15, she has been caught in a kind of behavioral limbo ever since -- a misfit in her own society.

''What we have here is a child with a learning disability,'' says zoo director Robert Yokel.

But all that could change. Yokel has recommended to Dade County officials that Dutchess be sent to the University of Texas, where scientists might be able to teach her to act like a chimpanzee.

But at least one expert thinks the chance of rehabilitating her is remote.

''It's a long, drawn out process,'' said Dr. Michael Keeting, director of a University of Texas program that maintains several breeding colonies for chimpanzees.

1981 U.P.I.
July 8, 1981, Wednesday, PM cycle

Owner says he won't replace dead monkey

GRETNA, La. - The owner of a tiny Capuchin monkey that was executed on a judge's order because it attacked two people says he will never replace his pet because it was like a ''surrogate child.''

Health officials said Tuesday laboratory tests determined the monkey, named Columbo, was not rabid. The monkey's owner, John Coleman, said he would not take any legal action against the state because that would not bring his monkey back.

''I was so close to Columbo, he was like a surrogate child to me.'' he said. ''I could never replace him. That's like saying if a child dies then you just adopt another.''

Coleman, who fought a bitter, tearful court battle to block the execution, said the test results came as no suprise.

''There wasn't any doubt in my mind that he was not rabid,'' he said. ''Now, maybe people will understand why I was so frustrated. But my monkey had to die to prove it.''

Columbo had jumped into a car with Kathy Haik and bit her 7-year-old son, David, last Wednesday after escaping from his cage. When the woman took a swipe at him with her purse, the monkey attacked her and fled.

Officials of the Jefferson Parish Animal Center took the animal to their shelter for 10 days of observation for rabies symptoms, then discovered exotic animals only rarely show signs of the disease.

On the advice of the state Health Department, they decided Columbo had to die.

Coleman said he planned to research the problems of owning exotic pets and publicize the findings so other pet owners would not have their animals slaughtered.

''I don't want anyone else to go through the hell I went through,'' he said.

The Associated Press
July 7, 1981, Tuesday, AM cycle

Columbo the Biting Monkey not Rabid

MARRERRO, La. - A monkey that was put to death so state health investigators could test it for rabies after it bit a woman and her young son was found to be free of the disease, officials said Tuesday.

John Coleman of Metairie had tried in court Monday to save his pet monkey from death. He was not available for comment on the findings.

Coleman wept after Judge Wallace I. LeBrun lifted a temporary restraining order forbidding state health investigators to kill the monkey so they could examine its brain tissue for rabies.

Health investigators found no evidence of rabies, according to spokeswoman Suellen Lewis.

"He had not exhibited any clinical symptoms prior to being put to death, and they said that there was absolutely no rabies," Ms. Lewis said.

The Capuchin monkey, named Columbo, broke free of its leash last Wednesday, then leaped into a passing car and bit Kathy Haik and her 7-year-old son, David.

If the monkey had been rabid, the Haiks would have had to undergo a rabies vaccine treatment.

Although contemporary rabies treatment is not as painful and prolonged as it once was, physicians do not like to use it unless absolutely necessary because of the chance that a patient will suffer an adverse reaction to the vaccine.

State law requires an animal suspected of being rabid to be held for observation and its brain tissue examined for the disease.

"Everyone is sympathetic to the owner," Ms. Lewis said. "We all have animals, but people were involved."

The Associated Press
July 7, 1981, Tuesday, PM cycle

Pet Monkey Killed After Judge Rejects Owner's Pleas

MARRERRO, La. - Columbo, the monkey, is no more -- despite his owner's pleas that the monkey was provoked when he bit a woman and her young son last week.

John Coleman of Metairie, Columbo's owner for three years, sat quietly Monday as state Judge Wallace I. LeBrun heard nearly three hours of testimony.

At the end, LeBrun lifted a temporary restraining order and veterinarians put the Capuchin monkey to sleep and beheaded him to test for rabies.

Outside the court, a visibly saddened Coleman said if there were any chance to save his pet, he would take it. But there was none.

"I really don't know," he said, his voice breaking, "All I know is my - all I know is my monkey's going to die."

He wept.

At the court hearing, Coleman's lawyer, Joseph Hecker, pleaded with the court to make the restraining order permanent.

"What's the purpose in killing this monkey?" he said. "The killing is not warranted."

Coleman argued that the monkey was not spiteful, although it was hyperactive and often less than friendly. "The monkey has bitten me several times in the past," he conceded.

The 3-year-old Capuchin monkey escaped from a backyard leash and bit a Metairie woman and her son after jumping into their passing car last Wednesday.

Neighbor Debbie Jackson testified that, before the attack, several youths taunted the little ape, racing at it with bicycles and screaming.

After the biting, Columbo climbed into a tree and only descended after a boy coaxed him down with sliced bananas, she said.

Jefferson Parish officials -- who conceded that the last case of rabies was reported in their jurisdiction in 1954 -- said a special "fluorescent antibody test" on Columbo's brain tissue was needed to be sure the 3-year-old monkey didn't have rabies.

The state health department condemned the monkey last Friday, but the execution was stayed over the long Independence Day weekend.

Coleman presented a primate expert, Dr. Robert Wolfe, who said it wasn't necessary to kill Columbo to learn if he was infected.

But the parish countered with testimony by Dr. Molly Puenkey, director of the Jefferson Health Center.

"If I was the mother of that child that got bit, I'd want that monkey killed although it is very, very remote that this animal has any rabies," she said.

The Associated Press
July 2, 1981, Thursday, AM cycle

Pet Monkey Attacks Woman and Son in Car

METAIRIE, La. - Kathy Haik slowed her car to avoid hitting a small monkey and she and her young son, David, were bitten for her pains, according to Jefferson Parish deputies.

Mrs. Haik said the monkey jumped through a car window Wednesday, bit her son on the ear, and -- when she stopped the car and punched the animal in the face -- bit her on the arm. Mrs. Haik told deputies she then threw the monkey out of the car, got her son to a doctor, and called the sheriff's office.

Deputies said neighborhood children led them to the house where the monkey is kept. It was in its cage, which a deputy promptly locked.

The children said the monkey had jumped into another car and bitten the woman inside earlier that morning, but officials said they could not find the woman.

Both mother and son were treated for their bites and the monkey, identified as belonging to John Coleman of Metairie, was taken to the Rabies Control Center for observation, authorities said.

The Associated Press
January 26, 1981, Monday, AM cycle

Monkeys In Legal Tug-of-War

AKRON, Ohio - A crippled pet store owner and the Tufts University School of Medicine are fighting over custody of two Capuchin monkeys being trained to help quadriplegics.

The Primate Project at Tufts, located in Cambridge, Mass., involves training monkeys to perform simple physical tasks for quadriplegics, people who are paralyzed in both arms and both legs.

The two monkeys in question -- Poncho and Willie -- are now living with Pebble Doll, the 27-year-old owner of Pebble's Pet Palace in Barberton. Miss Doll, whose legs are paralyzed, says Tufts agreed to let her train the monkeys. But in a suit filed in Summit County Common Pleas Court, Dr. M.J. Willard, professor of psychology and director of the Tufts project, and Suzanne Levy of New Rochelle, N.Y., the monkeys' donor, seek to force Miss Doll to return the monkeys to Tufts.

Albert Henry, Miss Doll's lawyer, says the dispute is due to misunderstandings and that he is trying to resolve the matter without a court hearing.

The suit says the monkeys were sent to Miss Doll only to have their teeth pulled as a precaution against bites and for socialization -- getting the monkeys accustomed to people to make their training easier.

But Miss Doll says she asked Tufts for the monkeys for use in her own similar project to train monkeys to help the handicapped.

"We wanted to get going with our own program," Miss Doll said. "When we called Dr. Willard, she didn't have funding at that time, but she said if we would pay for the shipping and dentistry she'd send us the monkeys."

Ms. Levy shipped the monkeys to Miss Doll last Nov. 7. Miss Doll said she took them to Akron Zoo veterinarian Dr. Robert Knowles to have their teeth pulled.

Tufts officials say Miss Doll has refused to communicate with Miss Willard or Ms. Levy about Poncho and Willie and claim she intends to move them to a secret location.

NEW YORK TIMES
February 19, 1974, Tuesday

Fire started by pet monkey chewing on electricity cord forces 10 Princeton University students to vacate dormitory on Feb 16.