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Pets the  winners in US custody fight
December 18, 2007 - 5:19AM

A US pet  owner, a primate and the new field of "animal law" were all winners 
when  Armani the capuchin monkey returned home to this Washington suburb 
after a  legal battle that fudged the differences between man and beast.
"If he  could speak, he would say: 'Thank you so much for fighting for me to 
come  home, Mom. Thank you for never giving up on me,'" said Armani's "pet  
parent" Elyse Gazewitz as the little monkey squeaked and played on her lap  
in his specially built 4,000-dollar playroom.
Gazewitz bought Armani in  2006 from a breeder in Florida, but he was seized 
by the authorities in  May this year in a case that had strong parallels to 
nightmarish child  custody cases, in which one parent wrongfully accuses the 
other of abuse  or kidnapping.
"I had called a woman who owns an animal sanctuary to ask  for advice about 
fruits and nuts for Armani. Next thing I know, she had  reported me to animal 
control to say he was frail, not eating and in  desperate need of a vet," 
Gazewitz told AFP.
"This is a woman whom I  have never met, who has never seen Armani, never 
been to my house."
The  police and veterinary officials descended on Gazewitz's house the next 
day  and took Armani to a zoo, where he was held in "protective custody" for  
seven months.
"They gave me 15 minutes to say goodbye. It was like a  round-up in World War 
II," Gazewitz said.
Armani's seizure started the  clock ticking in the long and painful legal 
battle to bring the monkey  back home.
Ably fought by attorney Anne Benaroya, it ended last week when a  judge 
ordered the county to release Armani back to the custody of  Gazewitz.
"Those of us who practise in this area are trying to get the  courts to 
acknowledge the change in the relationship between humans and  animals," said 
Benaroya, one of a rare breed of lawyers who practise  animal law.
"Now that machines have taken the place of animals, the  relationship has 
become more spiritual.
"But the law acknowledges no  difference between an animal and a lawnmower or 
a computer. In the eyes of  the law, animals are property," Benaroya, whose 
background is in family  and criminal law, told AFP.
"I filed tons of papers in this case saying  Armani was more like a child 
than a lawnmower, a computer. Even more than  some species, this particular 
species is so close to our own."
Armani's  courtroom victory signalled that perceptions are changing.
Bar associations  in several states have animal law committees, and cases 
that are coming  through the courts prove that the legal profession is 
beginning to look at  animals not just as chattel but as something of greater 
value because of  their strong emotional bonds with humans.
"We need the public and lawmakers  to take this area of law seriously, too, 
and for that to happen, they need  to see the relationship between humans and 
animals as being more than a  relationship between a person and property.
"The concept of an animal as  property is obsolete. We don't need horse-drawn 
carriages any more,"  Benaroya said.
While Gazewitz admits the past seven months were financially  trying -- she 
was billed 1,300 US dollars a month in "rent" by the zoo --  her real trials 
were emotional.
"I cannot describe the pain of losing  him. It was the most devastating thing 
I ever felt in my life," Gazewitz  said.
"But my love for Armani completely surpassed the fight against the  county, 
and I would have taken my fight as far as I could until I knew  that I had 
done everything possible to get him back," she added.
The  county brought several charges, including criminal, against Gazewitz,  
deepening the nightmare for the doting pet parent, whose plight won her  
sympathizers around the world.
"I was getting calls from around the  country and from France, England, 
Italy, Spain, people asking what could  they do, how could they help. People 
wanted to help with my legal fees and  write letters to the county council," 
Gazewitz said.
On Monday last  week, a judge ordered that Armani be allowed to go back home 
to  Rockville.
"Even now, when I wake up in the morning, I have to do a  double-take because 
he's home," Gazewitz said.
"He's my companion, my  best friend, my family. He's a sweet little boy who 
didn't deserve to go  through this," she said as Armani clambered onto her 
shoulder and planted  a capuchin monkey kiss on her cheek.
"The country, the world, I thank  everybody so much for supporting us. Armani 
thanks everybody, too,"  Gazewitz said.
"He knows. I told him." 







 
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Forwarded Message: 
Subj: primfocus: Sydney Morning Herald Article on USA pet  monkey   Date: 
12/21/2007 4:09:44 P.M. Eastern Standard Time  From: 
_info AT primates4primates.org_ 
(mailto:info AT primates4primates.org)   To: _primfocus AT waste.org_ 
(mailto:primfocus AT waste.org)   Sent from the Internet _(Details)_ 
(aolmsg://029edf48/inethdr/2)  





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