Animal workers encounter problems in taking monkey from business

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- There was some screeching, crying and even some chest thumping when Oklahoma City animal control officers tried to take a 5-year-old Capuchin monkey into custody: not from the monkey, but from his human friends.

Animal control officers wanted to take Winston the monkey in to be tested for disease on Monday after he allegedly bit a teen-ager on the leg several days before. But workers at Public Strategies, a public relations firm where Winston occupies a room next to his owner's office, resisted their efforts.

Officers tried to tell Mary Myrick, who owns the firm as well as the monkey, that Winston would not be harmed and that she could stay with him at the shelter until his release. But things got hairy as animal control workers were trying to put Winston inside their transport truck, a portion of which is caged.

"You don't understand," Myrick told police. "This monkey had a nanny, for God's sake."

It was on an outing with his nanny when Winston got into trouble, Myrick said Wednesday. The nanny took Winston in with her to a Home Depot store in north Oklahoma City last Saturday.

Some people came up and asked to pet Winston, and did so without any trouble, Myrick said. When the group was about to leave, Winston "nipped" a teen-ager on the back of the leg, she said.

The bite broke the skin, but animal control officials and Myrick said it was not serious.

As he was being taken in, Myrick requested that Winston be allowed to ride in the back seat of a police patrol car, but her request was denied, police said. Then, as Myrick was about to place Winston in the animal control truck, an employee with the firm allegedly attacked officers, police said.

Fifty-year-old Jo Anne Eason, "charged" one of the city officials, bumping him with her chest and pinning him against the truck, police said. She continued to struggle until she was placed under arrest on a complaint of assault and battery of a city official. She was released without going to jail.

"We had a less than pleasant experience at my office," Myrick said. "It would seem to me that for a 91/2-pound monkey, the story is pretty significantly overstated."

She said her staffers were frightened to have people with guns come in and threaten to take away the animal.

"They (animal control workers) were prepared to dart the monkey. It was a highly traumatic thing," she said.

Winston was taken to the shelter, tested and released, police said. Test results and additional information about the biting victim were not available Wednesday.

Myrick said Winston stayed in custody about 24 hours and went back home, where he has to stay for a while.

She said Winston has lived with her since he was five weeks old.

Myrick called him a "highly social" animal, who has grown up around humans. He has made numerous public appearances and is registered with city officials, she said.

"Capuchins are the third-smartest primate. In the social order, there are humans, chimpanzees and Capuchins," she said.

Because of this connection to humans, Winston is supervised 24 hours a day, Myrick said. That's why Winston has a nanny, which she admitted was expensive, and an "enrichment area," which was specifically written into her business' lease, Myrick said.

"Everybody makes their choice," she said. "I have the ability to care for him in a way I want to care for him and I feel I need to care for him. Some people raise their children differently from other people."

Myrick said after talking with the teen's family, the charges against Winston were dismissed. She also credited the animal control officers with their handling of Winston after the initial ruckus.

"The animal shelter people were sensitive and wonderful in the way they dealt with him. I was impressed with the care he got there," Myrick said.

She said she discussed ways with officials way animal control could handle primates in such situations in the future.