The #1 source for news about monkeys and apes

[Carrie McLaren <carrie AT stayfreemagazine.org>]

Posted on Mon, Apr. 19, 2004

From the monkey-house reading list
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/editorial/8467548.htm
By Bob Caylor
for the editorial board

The story of an Elkhart County woman who may have to move in order to 
keep her 12 -- twelve! -- capuchin monkeys moves us to offer this 
book recommendation: "Real People Don't Own Monkeys: And Other 
Stories of Pets, Their People and the Vets Who See It All," by Steven 
N. Austad and J. Veronick Kiklevich.

Dr. K., as her patients' owners call her, dishes out frank and often 
funny glimpses of what one veterinarian really thinks about her work. 
Imagine kindly, old James Herriott with a very funny, caustic edge, 
as if his ghostwriter were Sandra Tsing Loh, or maybe Steve Martin.

We won't give away what Dr. K. has to say about monkeys as pets, but 
those observations do not include how adorable the little fellas are 
when they're dressed in matching outfits from Baby Gap.


:::::


Posted on Fri, Apr. 16, 2004

Board orders monkey owner to move out of city

From The Associated Press
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/8448612.htm

GOSHEN - A woman who keeps 12 capuchin monkeys as pets lost her bid 
Thursday for permission to continue to keep the animals in her Dunlap 
home.

The Elkhart County Board of Zoning Appeals denied the request by 
Darlene Rucker, but gave her a one-year exception allowing her time 
to move from her home in a subdivision about 20 miles east of South 
Bend to a more rural setting.

Rucker has owned monkeys for nine years, but until recently she had 
encountered few complaints. Zoning administrator Larry Harrell said 
the fact Rucker kept monkeys as pets was not the issue. He said 
neighbors were concerned about the number of animals.

"At first it was just a couple of monkeys," said Delores Bond, a 
neighbor of Rucker's. "Now there's 12."

Others said having an animal sanctuary in a residential neighborhood 
would hurt property values, while the possibility of a child being 
injured by an escaped monkey also exists.

Rucker said no monkeys have escaped in the time she has had them.

Rucker told board members she was in the process of buying land, but 
that the plans had been halted when the zoning problem began.