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  • From: Apesman2727 AT aol.com
  • To: monkeywire AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [monkeywire] Sydney Morning Herald Article on USA pet monkey
  • Date: Mon, 24 Dec 2007 02:46:00 EST


Pets the winners in US custody fight
December 18, 2007 - 5:19AM

A US pet owner, a primate and the new field of "animal law" were all winners
when Armani the capuchin monkey returned home to this Washington suburb
after a legal battle that fudged the differences between man and beast.
"If he could speak, he would say: 'Thank you so much for fighting for me to
come home, Mom. Thank you for never giving up on me,'" said Armani's "pet
parent" Elyse Gazewitz as the little monkey squeaked and played on her lap
in his specially built 4,000-dollar playroom.
Gazewitz bought Armani in 2006 from a breeder in Florida, but he was seized
by the authorities in May this year in a case that had strong parallels to
nightmarish child custody cases, in which one parent wrongfully accuses the
other of abuse or kidnapping.
"I had called a woman who owns an animal sanctuary to ask for advice about
fruits and nuts for Armani. Next thing I know, she had reported me to animal
control to say he was frail, not eating and in desperate need of a vet,"
Gazewitz told AFP.
"This is a woman whom I have never met, who has never seen Armani, never
been to my house."
The police and veterinary officials descended on Gazewitz's house the next
day and took Armani to a zoo, where he was held in "protective custody" for
seven months.
"They gave me 15 minutes to say goodbye. It was like a round-up in World War
II," Gazewitz said.
Armani's seizure started the clock ticking in the long and painful legal
battle to bring the monkey back home.
Ably fought by attorney Anne Benaroya, it ended last week when a judge
ordered the county to release Armani back to the custody of Gazewitz.
"Those of us who practise in this area are trying to get the courts to
acknowledge the change in the relationship between humans and animals," said
Benaroya, one of a rare breed of lawyers who practise animal law.
"Now that machines have taken the place of animals, the relationship has
become more spiritual.
"But the law acknowledges no difference between an animal and a lawnmower or
a computer. In the eyes of the law, animals are property," Benaroya, whose
background is in family and criminal law, told AFP.
"I filed tons of papers in this case saying Armani was more like a child
than a lawnmower, a computer. Even more than some species, this particular
species is so close to our own."
Armani's courtroom victory signalled that perceptions are changing.
Bar associations in several states have animal law committees, and cases
that are coming through the courts prove that the legal profession is
beginning to look at animals not just as chattel but as something of greater
value because of their strong emotional bonds with humans.
"We need the public and lawmakers to take this area of law seriously, too,
and for that to happen, they need to see the relationship between humans and
animals as being more than a relationship between a person and property.
"The concept of an animal as property is obsolete. We don't need horse-drawn
carriages any more," Benaroya said.
While Gazewitz admits the past seven months were financially trying -- she
was billed 1,300 US dollars a month in "rent" by the zoo -- her real trials
were emotional.
"I cannot describe the pain of losing him. It was the most devastating thing
I ever felt in my life," Gazewitz said.
"But my love for Armani completely surpassed the fight against the county,
and I would have taken my fight as far as I could until I knew that I had
done everything possible to get him back," she added.
The county brought several charges, including criminal, against Gazewitz,
deepening the nightmare for the doting pet parent, whose plight won her
sympathizers around the world.
"I was getting calls from around the country and from France, England,
Italy, Spain, people asking what could they do, how could they help. People
wanted to help with my legal fees and write letters to the county council,"
Gazewitz said.
On Monday last week, a judge ordered that Armani be allowed to go back home
to Rockville.
"Even now, when I wake up in the morning, I have to do a double-take because
he's home," Gazewitz said.
"He's my companion, my best friend, my family. He's a sweet little boy who
didn't deserve to go through this," she said as Armani clambered onto her
shoulder and planted a capuchin monkey kiss on her cheek.
"The country, the world, I thank everybody so much for supporting us. Armani
thanks everybody, too," Gazewitz said.
"He knows. I told him."








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Forwarded Message:
Subj: primfocus: Sydney Morning Herald Article on USA pet monkey Date:
12/21/2007 4:09:44 P.M. Eastern Standard Time From:
_info AT primates4primates.org_
(mailto:info AT primates4primates.org) To: _primfocus AT waste.org_
(mailto:primfocus AT waste.org) Sent from the Internet _(Details)_
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  • [monkeywire] Sydney Morning Herald Article on USA pet monkey, Apesman2727, 12/24/2007

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