The Ikea Monkey Case Continues
The trial centred on Darwin, the macaque found wandering in the entrance of an Ikea furniture store in Canada at the end of 2012, continues. Darwin was only seven months old at the time and was found dressed in a sheepskin coat and a nappy.
His owner Yasmin Nakhuda, who is currently on trial for illegally possessing a wild animal as a pet in Toronto, continues to refer to Darwin as her “baby”. She has set up a facebook page on which many photos and videos of the monkey are posted including photos of the monkey dressed in baby clothes, drinking from a bottle.
It is not legal in Toronto to have a monkey as a pet. The city bylaw, initiated largely to protect human safety and ecosystems, states: “No person shall keep, either on a temporary or permanent basis any prohibited animal in the city.” All non-human primates are banned.
Brooke Aldrich, Campaigns Manager at Wild Futures, states: “The fact is that Yasmin Nakhuda is not, and never could be, Darwin’s ‘mommy’ – the young macaque would, if he had been given the chance, still be very dependent on his real mother. Science demonstrated half a century ago that maternal deprivation and social isolation are harmful to baby monkeys – and experience has borne this out over and over again. If Nakhuda cared about the monkey’s well-being rather than her own gratification, she would never have had Darwin in her home in the first place. He needs to be with his own kind.”
She added: “Owners often seriously misunderstand or misinterpret monkey behaviour, mistaking, for example, the baby’s clinging for ‘love’ or a wide grin (which in macaques signify fear or extreme submission) for a ‘smile’. This is not only harmful to the monkey, but will put the owner at real risk once the monkey nears adulthood – macaques can be very, very aggressive and an owner who has a false sense of security when handling the animal will be in danger of serious injury.”
Adult macaques are extremely strong and dangerous and are likely to carry Simian Herpes B Virus, which, if transmitted to humans can be deadly.
Sadly, it is still legal to have a monkey as a pet in the UK. Wild Futures runs a rescue and rehabilitation centre in Cornwall called The Monkey Sanctuary. Staff at the Sanctuary observe every day the damage caused to monkeys who have been kept as pets. Typically, a cute and needy monkey is purchased as a baby. Approaching maturity, the once-docile “pet” becomes aggressive or otherwise difficult to handle, and the owner cannot cope. But by this time, it is too late – the damage is already done. Nearly all rescued monkeys at the Sanctuary show behavioural signs, such as self harming or pacing, of psychological damage, or suffer from physical damage such as diabetes or metabolic bone disease, due to their time as pets.
The Sanctuary is regularly called upon to help in these situations. Wild Futures and the RSPCA estimated in 2009 that there were at least 5,000 monkeys being kept as pets in the UK. There is evidence that the trade has increased each year since then.
It is not known when the Darwin case will conclude, but for now Wild Futures is clear: primates are not pets and the sooner this is understood globally, the better.