Owner of ‘Darwin’ monkey says she wants him back
Posted December 11, 2012 4:48 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO, Ont. – The owner of a monkey caught wandering outside a Toronto Ikea this weekend said the tiny primate rarely left her side until he was confiscated by authorities — and she wants him back.
Yasmin Nakhuda said she initially tried to return the monkey she named Darwin to the breeder who supplied him, but changed her mind after hearing his heartbroken cries.
After that, Nakhuda said Darwin was near her at all times, including while she slept and showered.
She told 680News’ sister station KiSS 92.5 he’d even gone shopping with her before.
“And I had explained to Darwin, he was going to sit there and be a good boy, and I’ll be back. I may have been a bit longer, or he saw that he should be in the store too. I don’t know what went through his mind,” Nakhuda said.
Nakhuda said she’s devastated and misses him terribly.
“Let him choose: What does he choose? What does he want to be? Where does he want to be?,” she added. “Does he want to be in that sanctuary there and do the monkey things that he does, or maybe try something different and things that he’s enjoying.”
The months-old monkey captured worldwide attention after he somehow let himself out of a parked car Sunday and ambled around the store’s parking lot dressed in a fitted shearling coat.
He has been referred to as “the Dapper Darwin” and “the Small Shopper” in the U.K., made headlines in Australia, and was even mentioned on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Monday.
Darwin was eventually captured by animal control officers, Sunday, and moved to a primate sanctuary about 100 kilometres northeast of Toronto.
His new female friend and mother figure at the sanctuary is an adult baboon named Sweet Pea, who pays close attention to what he is doing at all times. Their enclosures are side by side and the two are beginning to touch one another.
“She has very strong mothering abilities,” Sherri Delancy, the founder of the Storybook Farm Sanctuary, told CityNews Channel. “She has mothered a cat in the past, and she’s actually paying close attention to Darwin and telling him what to do and what not to do.”
However, Sweet Pea is reportedly not a fan of Darwin’s big jumps.
Meanwhile, Nakhuda, who was fined $240 for breaking the city’s prohibited-animal bylaw, said she is considering legal steps to regain custody of the pet she considers part of her family.
“I do believe people are trying to come out and help me and assist me in fighting for him,” she said.