I don't know if anyone else watched the 'My Monkey Baby' programme on more 4 last night, i just happend to come across it and was left crying throughout.
There were a few couples who had choosen to have a baby monkey and raise it as if its their own baby, now one of them was a tragic case where she couldn't have any children at all so turned to Monkeys and she seemed to be less crazy, although im not sure.
The couple that distressed me the most was a young couple, a man who had voulntarily had a vasectomy at 22yrs old, because he never wanted children, and his g/f who by all accounts could have children of her own.
They already had 2 massive dogs, and were adopting a baby girl monkey from a breeder ( this is apparently legal in the US .
They poor baby monkey was only 10 days old, and had been seperated from its mother, after all documents were signed the breeder ( whos house was a bloody tip ) took them into a garage at back where she had quite a few grown monkeys in metal cages, small windows and no indication of greenery or stimulation, the then said new parents paraded the baby monkey infront of the mother and you could literaly see the pain and loss on the mothers face, i know its a monkey, but still!
It made me cry, really sobbing, the humans were just laughing, finding it funny when the mother monkey got aggressive and scratched at the g/f and took the microphone cover.
I really can not believe that this is legal, im all for adotping monkeys for their saftey, if they have been injured to the point they need specialist care, but these monkeys were just deliberatly being snatched away for a 4k profit.
why do people think this is acceptable?
the young couple seemed less than concered with the obvious distress of the mother monkey, and even less with the stress of their new 'baby' at having to live with 2 massive dogs, barking at it all the time!