Monkey Business Lands Pet in New Home

A Virginia man was too scared to keep his pet monkey after it attacked him while he slept two weeks ago.

“He should have had fangs removed,” Bear Path Acres Director Debbie Jeter told WAVY-TV 10. “That’s what makes him so dangerous.”

After 10 days in quarantine, Sammy, a 7-year-old, 30-pound Java macaque monkey, is in Jeter’s care at the zoo and animal education center she runs behind her Southampton County home, WAVY-TV 10 reported.

Surry County Animal Control officers said Sammy's owner was sleeping in a bed with the monkey when he accidentally rolled over onto it. Startled, Sammy bit the owner on his nose and arm.

Like Sammy, many of the exotic and domestic animals Jeter cares for once were someone else’s pets. She advised against keeping a monkey as a pet, no matter how cute they are.


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