Owner of Ikea monkey protests Toronto Animal Services
Posted December 19, 2012 8:03 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The owner of a tiny monkey who made headlines around the world stepped up her fight to get him back.
Yasmin Nakhuda and about 15 others held a protest in front of Toronto Animal Services, at 1300 Sheppard Ave. W., on Wednesday afternoon.
The group held up signs reading “free Darwin” under a photo of the monkey behind bars.
In an email to CityNews, Nakhuda said Darwin is “being cruelly kept away from his human family.”
Nakhuda, who describes herself as Darwin’s “mom,” said she was forced to surrender the rhesus macaque to animal services after he was spotted wondering around a North York Ikea on Dec. 9. The monkey was wearing a tiny shearling coat, spawning a slew of online attention.
However, it’s against a city bylaw to own a monkey, and Nakhuda was fined $240. Darwin was also confiscated and taken to the Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary in Sunderland, Ont.
Nakhuda has already launched a lawsuit to reclaim her pet, claiming animal control had no right to seize Darwin and that the sanctuary is exploiting the monkey.
The custody case will be heard in the Superior Court of Justice in Oshawa on Thursday.
Nakhuda said that if Darwin is returned, she will move with him to a city that allows monkeys to be kept as pets.
