CTA Doomsday Schedule: Day 2
Calumet Fisheries Wins James Beard Award
How To: Roast a Chicken (If You're an Idiot)
As Pace Struggles, CTA Claims "No Major Delays" After Doomsday Day One
30 Percent Chance Of Hailey
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.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
The Charla Nash story is one reason I will go to Hell when I die. Yeah, it's horrible, but every time I hear a recording of the 911 call, I just crack up.
Chimp owner: He's killing her!
911 operator: Who's killing her:
Owner: My chimpanzee!
The New York Times had an article about the dangers associated with owning a primate as a pet. It ran a week or two after the Nash chimp attack horrified the nation. It is quite bizarre how these people (primate owners) think. The article also includes a sentence that has been seared into my memory ever since:
"On one occasion, they got in a wrestling match, and Higgins put one of his “steel-like fingernails” through Bob’s scrotum."
Higgins is a Baboon. Read the article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/26/garden/26primates.html?scp=9&sq=pet%20chimp&st=cse
They say that a 25 pound monkey and a 6 ft man are evenly matched in a fight. That should be enough to deter people from having primates as pets, but some people have to learn the hard way.
That, and who would want to change a diaper on a monkey that is almost as big as you are?
You folks are missing the obvious link! We are talking Indiana here, where Monkey sales and fake monkey sales con men have increased simply because of the Charla Nash story!
I heard that a few days ago at 3:00am a man from Frenchlick Indiana was caught trying to break into Lincoln Park Zoo( by climbing the wall) with a large laundry bag. He told the arresting officer's that he was gonna steal some monkey's and sell them back in town for fifty bucks each.
I think there's also not been enough discussion of all the Chicagoans going to Indiana to buy monkeys at a lower sales tax.
My dad had a squirrel monkey named Skipper growing up. Skipper would hide on the crown molding for hours plotting revenge on my aunt and I have some hilarious videos of him pulling her hair that I really need to transfer from 8mm over to digital.
That said, I will vote any incubant out of office who votes for this anti-primate law.
Some top reasons why we should NOT have an exotic "pet" like a monkey:
1. Animals enter the exotic “pet” trade from a variety of sources. Some are stolen from their native habitat; some are “surplus” from zoos or menageries; some are sold at auctions or in pet shops; while others come from backyard breeders. The Internet has dramatically increased the ease with which people can find and purchase wild animals for their private possession.
2. Exotic “pets” purchased as infants are abandoned by their keepers as they age and become impossible to control. Sanctuaries cannot accommodate the large numbers of unwanted “pets.” As a result, the majority of these animals are euthanized, abandoned, or doomed to live in deplorable conditions.
3. Across the country, privately-held exotic animals held have escaped from their enclosures and have attacked humans and other animals — with sometimes fatal results.
4. Many exotic “pets” can transmit deadly diseases — including herpes B, monkeypox, and salmonellosis — to humans.