The #1 source for news about monkeys and apes

[Joe Garden <joegarden AT yahoo.com>]

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/krkansascity/20010219/lo/missouri_legislators_move_to_change_laws_governing_exotic_pets_1.html

Missouri legislators move to change laws governing
exotic pets 

      By BILL GRAHAM - The Kansas City Star

      After a neighbor's rhesus macaque monkey jumped
on Ethan Sickman's shoulder last July and bit his arm,
the young boy was left terrified and bleeding.

      For Larry and Lori Sickman of Platte County,
what at first seemed like a traumatic but simple bite
wound has led to fear of life-threatening diseases and
a series of rabies shots for their son, now 8.

      That's because no Missouri law gives authorities
the power to impound exotic animals such as monkeys --
and the monkey's owners declined to sacrifice its life
so it could be tested as a rabies carrier.

      "I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy," Larry
Sickman said. "I wouldn't want to see anybody's
children have to go through this treatment. Nothing's
more heartbreaking than to see my child down because
of these rabies shots."

      The monkey's owners, Steve and Shelly Bowman,
the Sickmans' next-door neighbors in a rural
subdivision northwest of Parkville, have declined to
comment.


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