Chris Brown, a singer, is in trouble after receiving a monkey for Christmas.
When singer Chris Brown presented his daughter with a baby monkey as a gift last Christmas, animal lovers were outraged.
The hazardous maneuver could now land him in jail.
The 29-year-old singer has been charged with two counts of harboring an animal without a permit, a misdemeanor, according to the Los Angeles city attorney’s office. On February 6, Brown will be charged with a crime and could spend up to six months in jail if found guilty.
After Brown posted a video showing his daughter holding the baby capuchin monkey while it was covered in a blanket and wearing a diaper in December of last year, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife was first made aware of the problem.
Concerned animal rights activists submitted the video to the police, who found that Brown lacked the proper documentation to keep the monkey, whom he named Fiji, as his pet.
The North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance (NAPSA) contacted Brown a year ago in the hopes that he would give up Fiji so that it may live at one of its authorized sanctuaries. The organization looks after more than 800 rescued primates and frequently campaigns to inform the public about the dangers of purchasing primates as pets.
The group wrote in a letter to Brown last December, “We can help you place your monkey at an accredited primate sanctuary where he can enjoy a healthy life with others of his own kind.” The closest thing to living in the wild would be this. Please take this chance to show your daughter and your followers that treating animals with respect is more important than keeping them as pets.
Fiji was taken by wildlife officials and ultimately released to a sanctuary in southern California when the group’s letter went unanswered. The facility’s name was kept a secret by the authorities.
Little Fiji was fortunate to wind up at a sanctuary rather than living his life as an unhappy pet in Brown’s house, but this is not the case for countless other helpless monkeys born into the wildlife trade.
Many monkeys or apes, like Fiji, spend their early years in human clothing and diapers, but as they get older and more violent or destructive, their guardians can no longer safely take care of them. As they naturally want socialization with other animals of their kind, they frequently bite people or even hurt themselves out of stress.
The mistreatment starts very early, according to Erika Fleury, program director for NAPSA, who told The Dodo that this isn’t the only horrifying fact about “cute” pet monkeys.
Fleury said that breeders intentionally separate baby monkeys from their moms years before they would naturally do so. The rest of their unnatural and unhealthy lives spent in human homes are harmed by [this]. Primates are incapable of domestication. I receive calls every week from monkey owners who want to give up their misunderstood “pet.” It’s never a smart idea to keep an ape inside a human residence.
With regard to Brown’s crime, all of this could have been prevented with the right research, Fleury was tense.
Fleury continued, “This experience illustrates that keeping a primate as a pet is a horrible choice – for the humans and animals involved, regardless of who you are or the resources at your disposal.
