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UPDATE: The owner of Carter, the Rhesus Macaque Monkey, appeared today in court. Carter’s owner surrendered her ownership rights to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Animal Care and Control in return for having all charges dropped against her.
Carter will soon be transferred to a primate sanctuary through the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance. Attached are pictures of Carter living in Animal Care and Control.
CHARLOTTE, NC — A monkey is finally safe after a day on the run in Mecklenburg County.
A spokesperson for The Carolinas Medical Center University says the monkey first escaped from a car parked in the visitors parking lot. A maintenance worker caught it, put it in a bin and called Animal Control. Before officers arrived, the monkey escaped again and headed toward the woods.
Animal Care and Control saw a couple problems with that scene.
One: rabies. The monkey scratched or bit the hospital worker. Doctors treated him as a precaution.
Second: the law. No exotic pets are allowed in Mecklenburg County.
To read the ordinance, click
here.
Animal Care and Control says the owner knows that.
Officers seized Carter the Capuchin monkey last March after finding out its owner had him in the county.
She got him back after promising to move to Iredell County where there are no exotic animal laws.
No one answered the door when WCCB Charlotte stopped by the owner’s listed address.
We asked neighbors if they’d seen the monkey.
"We saw one four or five months ago just going from like the person who had it to their car," said Amber Gabriel.
Gabriel says the monkey’s owner has since moved out.
We aren’t releasing the owner’s name because police haven’t filed charges.
"Looked like they were treating it like a baby," said Gabriel.
By 7:00 Thursday night, animal control found Carter still monkeying around the hospital. The officer was able to secure the monkey through the assistance of a family member of its owner.
The monkey is confined in an isolation area at Animal Care and Control. The Health Department will have to determine the best rabies and quarantine protocol.
