My Monkey Baby: AKA What. The. F*ck?
Monday, June 22, 2009Posted in: My Monkey Baby, There are some messed up people in the world, there's nowt queer as folk
‘It’s like having a child that never grows up – how perfect is that?’ … Mary Lynn Campbell and Silly Willy, in My Monkey Baby. Photograph: Channel 4
I don’t agree with the act of dressing dogs in cutesy doggy clothes, as if they were a fashion accessory. In fact I hate it, and I truly believe it’s an act of cruelty towards the dogs, so you can imagine my horror when I watched this programme on the telly the other night.
It’s a new form of family life, and thousands of Americans are raising a monkey as a member of their family.
These cheeky monkeys have everything a real child could want, expensive clothes and toys. Their own rooms complete with TVs. Sweets, treats, and most of all, quality time with ‘Mum’ and ‘Dad’ In fact, all the love and attention a parent can give.
One of the parents, Jim, had this to say about his ‘daughter’, Jessy:
“She’s my baby girl. If I hear somebody call her a monkey, I throw a fit, she is my daughter 100 per cent”
Jessy sticks her tongue into Jim’s mouth – just normal father-daughter behaviour.
She’s 18 now, and like any 18-year-old American girl she likes to try on pink frilly dresses and put on a bit of makeup – just some lippy and blusher, and do her nails. “There, now you look so purdy,” says mum Lori. People might say that Jessy longs for companionship, but she doesn’t like other monkeys. She doesn’t know what another monkey is. And she doesn’t like monkey food either, bananas and all that; she likes doughnuts, cup cakes, candy, lollipops and ice cream.
I can’t even tell you how disturbing I found the whole thing.
Bringing up monkeys as if they were real children? I understand pet love, but this really is beyond the pale.
Mary Lynn (above) even lets her monkey ‘toddler’, Silly Willy, sleep in the same bed as her. She also put one of her monkey babies in a cage, as punishment for taking off her diapers.
One of her monkeys also had a problem with wearing a bubble gum pink frilly dress for a photo-shoot. Gee, I wonder why?
Yep, this one can definitely be listed under the heading of “Only In America”.
Apparently, there are 15000 of these monkeys living in homes across the US, and they cost around $4.5k per baby.
Truly fucked up.
Amarinda Jones
June 22
9:33 am
Oh for god sake…that’s just bloody wrong.
Nonny
June 22
10:27 am
O.O
I have no freaking words.
KristieJ
June 22
11:41 am
Ooooooooo-k Now there’s my bizarro story for the day.
Barbara B.
June 22
12:28 pm
Silly, sick fucks.
Bonnie Dee
June 22
1:39 pm
And all of this expense for an animal-child while there are real, living children starving for care and affection. Adopt a real person then let the kid grow up and age as is natural instead of trying to keep a poor beast as a perpetual baby.
Lori
June 22
1:55 pm
I wouldn’t dress my actual child like that. And monkeys are animals although some of those parents might have the right *children* for their sensibilities. I mean, would you want them raising real kids?
Sparkindarkness
June 22
2:06 pm
Ye gods it’s bad enough when people dump rags oin their dogs and croon over it – but it’s worse because monkeys are intelligent and look so human
But aren’t. No amount of clothes and sweets and training will make it human and treating it this way is so terribly wrong for the poor creature
Fae Sutherland
June 22
2:22 pm
Well, they’re all obviously batshit crazy, so perhaps best they not try to actually parent a child. Doubtful someone so whacked would be allowed to adopt.
anny cook
June 22
2:45 pm
Sigh. I don’t know anyone who has $4.5K to spend on anything, let alone a monkey. And I don’t know anyone who would spend that kind of money on a monkey–it they had the dough. Most of us are too darn poor for that kind of nonsense.
Anon76
June 22
2:54 pm
Wow. That idea scares the living crap out of me. No matter what people say, certain animals will never be truly domesticated. It’s just not in their make-up.
Something shocking and horrifying occurred in the US not too many months ago. An elderly woman had had a chimpanzee for a number of years, like eighteen or more. The animal was treated as a human child, and lived in the house.
Well, it seems that one day she simply could not corral the chimp. He got outside and the woman called another lady friend who’d known the animal for years to come over and help get him back in the house.
When the friend arrived, the chip attacked. He shredded her face, including her eyes, tore off her scalp, and ripped up her hands to the point they had to be amputated. Major brain damage occurred also. She is still alive and god help me, I wonder if she should be.
Police had to shoot the animal a number of times to put him down. He was just so animal-like at the time that one or two shots wouldn’t do it.
And guess what, “momma” just can’t understand why he went so nuts, he was such a sweet animal. Yeah, one that had reached an age where it was possible he was suffering from the same infirmities of the mind that affect humans. She at first stated that she’d given him Xanax or something that morn cuz he’d been grumpy for days. Of course she rescinded that after the public outcry, but blood testing showed he did have that drug in his body.
Why are people so bloody stupid?
Anya Howard
June 22
4:01 pm
Anon76, I was thinking about that same incident while reading Karen’s post. The neighbor in that case has gone through horrific life-altering changes; there is no excuse for what happened to her.
One of my pet peeves is definitely seeing people treating pets like their children, and worse, showing more affection and love for their pets than their children or spouse. I have a relative who did this with her dogs. I tend to think these people often seek a parent/child relationship with the pets because they feel animals are more easily controlled.
GrowlyCub
June 22
4:57 pm
As peculiar as this is, I cannot help but think that it’s a good thing these people aren’t ‘parenting’ real children, because they’d really mess up a kid’s mind as far as I can see.
SarahT
June 22
5:09 pm
This dude is one sick fuck. Ugh. And as I’m now in a position to know, there are A LOT of sickos out there with monkey fetishes!
Cathy in AK
June 22
5:36 pm
Elly, call local wildlife authorities or a zoo. I volunteered at a wildlife rehab center in Oregon for several years and saw many animals given the wrong food, the wrong housing, etc. before they were brought to us in terrible shape. Some were trying to raise babies they found as pets and soon discovered the huge pitfalls of this. Most were just trying to do the right thing. Good intentions cannot replace expertise in animal care.
As for the monkey “parents”….therapy. Especially the guy who lets the monkey put her tongue in his mouth. That’s normal daddy-daughter behavior???? Thank god he doesn’t have kids.
Cathy in AK
June 22
5:37 pm
oops…there was a comment from an Elly about a monkey as I was posting…
Anon76
June 22
7:14 pm
Yeah, Anya, it is truly such a horrific story that it is hard to fathom.
And as to your second comment: “One of my pet peeves is definitely seeing people treating pets like their children, and worse, showing more affection and love for their pets than their children or spouse.”
I do think on my different pets over the years as valued members of the family unit, but never, ever above children, grandchildren or hubster. Or even friends and visitors for that matter. Just as I would not let any human torment my pets, I would not let those pets become aggressive to that level towards humans.
Yes, I know, many people keep very aggressive dogs for personal protection, but to me, they must keep them responsibly. You know that dog has a hair trigger and you should do everything in your power to protect others who mean no harm.
And back to the monkey thing, even those little ones have huge chompers and fangs. No way would I want a child of the same intellectual level faced off against one. “My momma, not yours…My toy, not yours…My treat not yours”…takes on a whole new meaning. Works the same way with big dogs.
Sigh
veinglory
June 22
11:51 pm
It’s not good for the primates either. They tend to hit puberty and want to fight and have sex like normal monekys–not dress up.
Lolita Lopez
June 23
1:04 am
OMGWTFBBQ! That is so disturbing. And makes me really sad for the monkeys. They’re not toys! They are living, breathing beings who deserve better than that.
Dawn
June 23
8:23 am
I watched about half of this programme before I was too sickened and turned to something else. What did you think of the bit where the young couple went to pick up their “son” from the breeder and the mother of the baby monkey was just frantic trying to get at her baby. It was just so sad, especially as they were laughing.
These people are just sick!
theo
June 23
2:18 pm
EWW! Just…eww!
I wonder if one of them is a relative of Tom Cruise…
Jenns
June 23
3:57 pm
Yes! I completely agree. So wrong and cruel and disturbing.
There’s currently a movement to ban primates as pets (or I guess – ahem – children) in the U.S. For good reason!
Karen Scott
June 25
7:16 am
I wondered at the irony of these people not considering how it felt for the mother of the monkey to be separated from her baby.
OT: I couldn’t help but wonder if these people were Republicans. *g*
Tuscan Capo
June 25
4:56 pm
OT: I couldn’t help but wonder if these people were Republicans. *g*
That’s not fair, Karen – Hilary Clinton’s had a clinging monkey for years. Of course, I highly doubt she lets him poke his tongue or anything else in her mouth these days.. *G*
Saroya Poirier
July 4
6:33 pm
I hate trends such as this monkey thing. But it was also popular in the 1950s when I was a child. My mother’s friend had one. They kept him in a cage in the teen daughters room. He would masturbate when the teen was having her period. The teen hated it and was happy when they got rid of the spider monkey.
Andrew
October 5
1:35 pm
I actually watched the whole episode and like many others, I was disgusted throughout the entire thing, my first impression of these people was that they all had serious underlying mental issues to want to raise these monkeys. This was only confirmed as I watched on.
The new parents were special, both were from what seemed like bad parent-child relationships, Jesus was so against having kids he spent over 6 months searching out a doctor to perform a vasectomy on him when he was only 22. I do not think they know what they are getting into.
The older lady had 6 children of her own that she screwed up so badly that they have not talked to her in over 5 years, she got the monkey because it can never grow up and leave her. She spent many months in a hospital battling depression when her kids finally left home. When her monkey baby started acting up they got its’ teeth removed. How cruel is that, apparently teeth removal is quite common in house kept monkeys.
The owner of silly-willy is just flat out crazy just watch 2 seconds of her and you can tell.
I think that the trade of monkeys as pets is extremely cruel and should be illegal as it is in a lot of countries and some states so far. I was so disgusted that about half-way through the episode I had already looked up 4 or 5 monkey sanctuaries in the US and I am seriously considering making donations.
I would have to concur with the previous statement “Only in America”
Mireya
October 5
2:17 pm
I also finally got a chance to see this last night. I couldn’t stand more than 5 mimutes of it. It was NASTY.