Bryon Hill, working on a renovation crew in this centralBritish Columbia town, said he was "totally shocked" to find the mummified squirrel monkey above the ceiling last week.
The monkey, about 2 feet from head to the end of the tail, died with its hands around a pipe and was so rigid that Hill could hold it straight up by balancing the end of the tail in his hand.
"I poked it to see if was alive and phoned the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) to see if there could be any health risks from working with it," said Hill. "It was hanging on tight, and we had to pry it off."
The monkey "is pretty much mummified," said Jared Hansen, an SPCA animal care attendant. "All that's left is the skeleton and dried tannish brown and white hair. All the major features like eyes have disappeared."
The monkey got increasingly ill-tempered because of taunting by children and vanished from the store's pet department. Employees at the time believed it had escaped or been stolen.
Elaine Meisner, co-owner of the building with her husband Ben, said she was told the monkey was taunted by children with pea shooters, "so he spit back."
"I do think it's very sad that it died all alone, probably from starvation," Meisner said.