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[carrie <brooklynite282 AT gmail.com>]

Monkey in Russian zoo refuses to pose, snatches phone cameras
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070816/71936016.html
16/ 08/ 2007

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, August 16 (RIA Novosti) - A Japanese macaque monkey
in a Volga Region zoo insists on protecting its "family" from nuisance
visitors by snatching away their cell phone cameras, a deputy zoo
owner said Thursday.

In an attempt to protect his "girlfriend" and baby, the male Japanese
monkey, nicknamed Samurai, has already expropriated a dozen expensive
mobile phones, the spokesman said.

"Samurai never feels shy about swiping phones from an owner's hands
and then hiding them in his cage," he said.

Zoo workers have managed to return some of the mobile phones intact
their rightful owners, but some are in need of repair, he said.

Officials have put up a warning sign for visitors: "Dear biological
relatives, we regard phones, cameras and video cameras as our property
- we take and destroy them."

But the photographers, who are usually clueless as to what the strange
note means, insist on taking pictures of the adorable primate, wholly
unaware of its larcenous habits.