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Title: Naples council moves forward with squirrel monkey protections

Naples council moves forward with squirrel monkey protections
http://www.naplesnews.com/02/12/naples/d867963a.htm

Naples council moves forward with squirrel monkey protections

Thursday, December 5, 2002

By DIANNA SMITH, dlsmith AT naplesnews.com

The Naples City Council's monkey business was for real Wednesday.

Council voted 4-3 to pass the first reading of a proposed ordinance that would protect squirrel monkeys normally spotted near the Collier Athletic Club off Seventh Avenue North. Council will vote on the second and final reading of the proposed ordinance next month.

Mayor Bonnie MacKenzie said there needs to be a rule in place to stop people from harassing and trapping the primates.

"We would remove all doubt there is any opportunity for anyone to receive special permission to trap the monkeys," MacKenzie said. "The city is very serious. We will find you. We will arrest you, and we will prosecute you."

"Big Daddy," a squirrel monkey, sits in a tree where he lives behind the Collier Athletic Club. Jason Easterly/File
The monkeys were hunted by a local animal trader to be sold as pets or lab animals in the late 1990s. She said she has heard laboratories pay $1,500 for the squirrel monkeys.

MacKenzie said some fire tranquilizer darts at the monkeys. Nearby residents saw a person trying to trap one a couple of weeks ago and they notified police.

Councilman Bill MacIlvaine said the owners of the property where the monkeys live should take the matter up with the police and not the city.

The city doesn't need to be involved, he said.

"The idea of protecting a monkey is monkey business," MacIlvaine said. "The more rules we have, the more difficulty we're making for everybody. I think it's an item that should be forgotten."

MacIlvaine voted against the first reading, along with council members Clark Russell and Tamela Wiseman.

Wiseman questioned why the council should create a rule protecting squirrel monkeys when there aren't rules protecting other animals.

"Shouldn't we have an ordinance for every other type of wildlife we don't want to see shot, killed or trapped?" Wiseman said. "Do we need to protect the puppies at the mall?"

MacIlvaine said it sounded to him like the monkeys are a nuisance, but Natural Resources Manager Jon Staiger said that isn't true.

Staiger called the monkeys an attraction.

MacKenzie said there used to be about 20 squirrel monkeys living near the athletic club, but the number has decreased.

Members of the athletic club noticed the numbers were dropping in early 2001.

Although the athletic club seems to be the monkeys' unofficial host by feeding them, the club discourages its members from feeding the monkeys from the tables out back because they would grow bolder and grab food not offered.

The 12- to 18-inch monkeys that have golden fur on their feet and hands and black masks around their mouths have been Naples residents longer than most people here.

Local lore has it they escaped from the Caribbean Gardens zoo years ago, but officials there say it isn't so. More than likely a couple of the monkeys, which are native to South America, were released into the wild by a Naples pet owner who no longer wanted them. And they've propagated on the property since.