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[Carrie McLaren <temporary181 AT stayfreemagazine.org>]

Woman Goes Bananas After Pet Monkey Is Taken

Video:
http://wjz.com/seenon/local_story_143063411.html

(WJZ/AP) ROCKVILLE, MD. A Rockville woman is 
distraught after authorities seized her pet 
monkey.

May 24, 2007 7:06 pm US/Eastern

As Richard Sher reports Elyse Gazewitz treated Armani like any other baby.

She fed him from a bottle, wheeled him around in 
a stroller and diapered him. She even built a 
four-thousand-dollar addition on her house for 
the four-pound capuchin monkey and outfitted it 
with tire swings, toys and a small hammock.

But Montgomery County animal control officials 
say Armani is an illegal resident under Maryland 
law. They seized him last week.

Gazewitz told WJZ's Sher, "I can't eat, I can't 
sleep, I miss him so." Since he was taken away 
Gazewitz said she had not been able to sleep 
because "he always slept with me."

A new state law forbids anyone from importing, 
selling, breeding or having a "non-human 
primate," including monkeys. The law made an 
exception for animals that were owned before May 
31st, 2006, but officials say Armani wasn't even 
born until December.

Gazewitz says officials are wrong, and she's 
fighting to get her monkey back. She says she can 
prove Armani was born and purchased in May of 
last year.

A hearing on this matter has been scheduled for June 6th.

© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.