Indiana Girl Hurt By Pet Monkey

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Nov 24, 2009 5:40PM

Did we learn nothing from the tragedy of Charla Nash, the woman violently attacked earlier this year by a friend's pet chimp? While these two incidents are different in terms of the size of the animal involved or the severity of the injuries sustained, they both underscore a good point: primates are not meant to be pets. A 10-month old LaPorte, Indiana girl suffered some minor injuries when a pet monkey grabbed the girl's head and banged it against its cage several times. Per ABC 7:

Police say the girl was being held during a visit Sunday to the LaPorte home of her mother's aunt and uncle when the caged monkey pulled on the hood of the girl's coat. She was taken to a hospital for treatment of a rope burn to her neck from a drawstring and red marks on the back of her head.

If you remember, the U.S. House has passed the Captive Primate Safety Act which would amend the currently imposed Lacey Act by adding "nonhuman primates" to the list of "live animal of any prohibited wildlife species." The bill had 26 sponsors in the House, including Mark Kirk (R), Jan Schakowsky (D), and Luis Gutierrez (D), all of Illinois. The bill now sits in the U.S. Senate; the last action taken on it was being placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders back in July. For now, according to ABC 7's report, there's no permit requirement to own a pet monkey in Indiana.