Ikea monkey to stay at primate sanctuary while ‘mom’ fights for his return

Darwin the Ikea monkey will stay at a primate sanctuary for at least the next few months after the woman who describes herself as his mom lost a bid to get him back.

Yasmin Nakhuda went to court to try to get the monkey back after he escaped from her car and was found wandering in an Ikea parking lot in December dressed in a shearling coat.

Ontario Superior Court Judge Michael Brown ruled Friday that Nakhuda cannot get Darwin back on a temporary basis until her case can be fully heard at a trial.

“I do not believe that any irreparable harm will occur to the plaintiff and her bond with Darwin or Darwin himself, so long as an early trial date can be set,” Brown said. The case is being expedited and is expected to come to trial by May.

Nakhuda argues she was tricked into signing over Darwin to animal services after he was picked up at the Ikea, and that a long separation during a trial over his custody will damage her bond with the little primate.

After Brown read his decision Nakhuda sat motionless for several minutes and only emerged from the courthouse nearly an hour later.

“You’ve just learned that loving is not enough to win a motion,” she said.

Animal services sent Darwin to Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary in Sunderland, Ont., and the sanctuary is fighting to keep him there, arguing it is the best place for the monkey.

Darwin is thriving there, the sanctuary’s owner said outside court Friday.

The sanctuary alleges Nakhuda is unfit to care for Darwin, raising unproven allegations that she “strangled” the monkey, and didn’t change his diapers for several days.

The judge said there is a very high bar a plaintiff must meet on a motion such as this one, and he ruled that Nakhuda did not.

“I am not satisfied that the plaintiff has established that there is a high degree of assurance that she will succeed at trial,” Brown said. “That is not to say in any way that she will not be successful at trial. She may very well be.”