We’ve all seen them: cute, cuddly, fuzzy, and practically irresistible baby monkeys. What a show for guests- swinging from the ceiling, feeding themselves with their opposable thumbs, doing back flips, and clapping; all so sweet and innocent.
Raising a baby monkey as a pet does not change its natural and inherent instinct to develop into a wild animal. As they grow into adolescences their hormones and intellect make for extremely challenging and dangerous situations. And at this stage, depriving a monkey of normal social interactions and relationships with its own kind can lead to further problems… for the monkey AND for its owner.
In a part of the world where monkeys are rampant, many people decide to take them in as pets. Often the mother will be killed by poachers and the baby sold. This situation is usually the case for ending up with a pet monkey. Someone will either buy it (in order to rescue it) or forcefully take it from said poachers and decide that they can give it the care it needs instead of opting for the more responsible approach of turning it over to a rescue center.
Monkeys, like all animals, have different personalities. Some can be a bit more docile while others are extremely aggressive resorting to biting, destroying property, and throwing their own feces. They can transmit a variety of diseases to humans such as Yellow Fever, falciparum malaria , Kyasanur Forest disease, Tanapox, Mayaro virus, tuberculosis, herpes-B negative, and of course, rabies. (2ndchance.info)
So, in case you were in the market for a monkey, I certainly hope you’ve changed your mind. You won’t be dealing with Curious George!
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