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["carrie mclaren" <brooklynite282 AT gmail.com>]

Woman Spots Monkey Attacker From Primate Lineup
http://www.wsoctv.com/news/14774490/detail.html
POSTED: 5:11 pm EST December 4, 2007

UTHERFORD COLLEGE, N.C. -- A woman tried to pet a customer's monkey
when it latched onto her face and scratched her.

Video: Store Clerk Attacked By Monkey

Brooke Ross was working at the Family Food Mart in Rutherford College,
N.C., on Sunday when a man walked up to the counter with a monkey on
his shoulder. It hopped down onto the counter and Ross, who said she
thought the 18-inch-tall animal was cute, reached to pet him.

In the blink of an eye the monkey attacked, biting her cheek just
below her right eye.

"It bit the top of my eyelid and it just kind of latched onto my
cheek," she said.

She said the monkey's owner helped her put a Band-Aid on her bleeding
face, hastily said the animal was up-to-date on its shots and then
left. He didn't leave his name.

Customers said they were shocked by the incident.

"It's crazy, it really is, to keep stuff like that in your house," one man 
said.

Burke County Animal Control officers spent several hours early Tuesday
trying to track down the monkey. They showed Ross photographs of pets
in the county and she was able to pick out the offender.

Animal Control confirmed that the monkey had been given all its
required shots. It had not received a rabies shot, but officers told
her they don't think that's a problem because the animal never really
went outdoors.

Ross is taking a round of antibiotics after the attack and said she
plans to stay away from monkeys from now on.

"I really don't like any kind of animal right now," Ross said.

Monkeys can carry rabies, measles, tuberculosis, salmonella and a
potentially fatal form of herpes.