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A monkey named Peanut previously owned by Linda Stevenson.
(Courtesy Photo)
BAY CITY, MI -- A Bay City woman may lose her four-figure deposit on a pet squirrel monkey. A city ordinance prohibits the ownership of such a pet.
Linda Stevenson, 34, said that she paid $2,000 to a breeder in Mission, Texas, for the monkey. That deposit is only half of what she'd eventually owe and it is nonrefundable, she said.
Yet according to the city's deputy city manager, Dana Muscott, Stevenson should not expect to get the simian any time soon. City ordinance 18-7 states, "No person shall keep any animal or reptile within city limits except dogs, cats or other animals which are commonly housed inside a dwelling as a pet."
"Our definition of a household pet is not a squirrel monkey," Muscott said. "We do not consider a monkey a commonly kept animal."
On Monday, Feb. 15, Stevenson appeared at a Bay City Commission meeting and asked the commission to alter the ordinance to include monkeys.
"After the meeting, we addressed the ordinance with the city attorney and we're saying we cannot have it," Muscott said. The commission sent Stevenson a letter informing her of its decision, Muscott said.
Muscott added it's uncommon to have such a matter brought to the commission's attention.
"We've really never had anybody come before the city commission and challenge it," she said. "This is the first time in the 16 years since I've been here that someone has asked for something other than a cat or dog."
The squirrel monkey Linda Stevenson paid a $2,000 deposit for to a Texas breeder.
If Stevenson somehow were to obtain the monkey, it would not be the first she owned.
"I had one before named Peanut when I lived in Florida," Stevenson said. "I had him for about a year in 2001. I saw him at a pet store, fell in love, and bought him. He slept on my chest, climbed in my shirt, and slept with me, wrapped around my leg. I thought it was awesome. It was rewarding. He was very smart. He was a pest at times. He threw boxes of Q-tips and my makeup in the toilet, so I learned to keep the toilet lid down."
Stevenson paid $4,000 for Peanut.
"He went everywhere with me," she recalled. "He had a cage, but he wasn't often in it. If he wasn't able to go with me, I really didn't leave the house. He'd hide my keys behind the couch if he thought I was leaving without him."
As she was moving around quite a bit at the time, Stevenson ended up selling Peanut in Kentucky. Having lived on Bay City's East Side for two years now and being a stay-at-home mom to her 8-year-old son, she said she now has the time needed for another monkey.
Squirrel monkeys are "New World" monkeys hailing from the tropical forests of Central and South America. They have short, close fur, which is olive on their backs and yellowish-orange on their bellies and limbs. They can grow 25 to 35 centimeters, with a tail of 35 to 42 centimeters. They weigh 750 to 1,100 grams. They have the largest brain, for the size of their bodies, of all primates, including humans.
The Kentucky-based World Animal Foundation describes them as both diurnal -- active during daylight -- and arboreal, or tree-dwelling.
"For marking territory, squirrel monkeys rub their tail and their skin in with their own urine," the agency's website states. "Squirrel monkeys are omnivores, eating primarily fruits and insects. Occasionally, they also eat nuts, buds, eggs and small vertebrates."
Squirrel monkeys typically live to be about 15 years old in the wild, and can get as old as 20 in captivity, the World Animal Foundation states.
The agency is against keeping monkeys as pets, for numerous reasons.
"While baby monkeys are usually as easy to keep clean as a human infant (by diapering), monkeys that have reached puberty usually remove their diapers and cannot be toilet trained," the agency states. "They require constant supervision and mental stimulation. They usually require a large amount of attention. Monkeys cannot handle being away from their owners for long periods of time, such as family trips for example, due to their need of attention. Bored monkeys can become extremely destructive and may even go so far as to smear or throw their own feces."
Monkey owners need to set aside large stretches of time for cleaning up the messes their pets make, the agency states. In adolescence, the monkeys begin to bite and pinch humans. In addition, it can be difficult finding a veterinarian who has the necessary knowledge to treat them.
"Monkeys eventually have to grow up, and in most cases become wild and not easy to control," the agency continues. "The monkeys may also become aggressive even to their owners. They can change from one minute to the next without warning, making it hard for the owner to fully understand them. The majority of monkey owners have to find other homes for them, such as zoos and monkey rescues. Monkeys are known to get attached to their first owner so it is not easy for a monkey to get used to their new environment."
Monkeys are also social creatures, and it can be problematic to keep them isolated.
Eco Healthy Pets, based in New York, also advises against having a monkey as a pet. The organization says it is illegal to import squirrel monkeys into the U.S. as pets, though "wild individuals are legally trapped and imported every year for medical research. Some of these may end up in the illegal pet trade." Pet monkeys can be purchased from domestic breeders licensed through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Stevenson disagreed with those sources' assessments on monkeys not being good pets.
"They do make good pets if you have time for them," she said. If she were to somehow still acquire the monkey, she said she'd have PVC pipes installed throughout her home and would put up a large, contained jungle gym in her backyard for him to climb on.
She added that she already has veterinary services lined up for the monkey in the form of Lakeside Animal Hospital in Oakland County's Commerce Township.
Stevenson said she is appealing to city Commissioner Lynn D. Stamiris, 1st Ward, for help.
"She spoke with me at the commission meeting," Stamiris said. "She was supposed to contact me if she had any issues or problems I might be able to help her with. I have not heard from her.
"I would certainly investigate what the issues are," he continued. "We're allowing chickens and a few other things in the city, so I just want to try to work through the issues to see that I understand correctly as to why they're denying it. At this time, I haven't done anything because she hasn't called me back or anything. "
And should Stephenson flout the ordinance and acquire the monkey anyway?
"The city attorney would have to get involved then with our code enforcement department," Muscott said, adding the city would proceed with civil actions.