Ikea monkey owner has 2 new primates, but experts worry about spike in exotic pet ownership

As the sun sets over the sprawlingproperty in rural Ontario, the farmhouse party gets into full swing.

The host walks around chatting up the guests, two small monkeysperched on her shoulder. One is dressed in a collared jumpsuit, theother in a polka-dot dress.

Up the hill, a pair of burlesque dancers perform as guests snapphotographs of other animals two miniature donkeys, a wallaroonamed Wall-E, a few alpacas groomed like best-in-show poodles, twotiny marmosets, two ferrets and a skittish black-and-white fox.

This is Yasmin Nakhuda's Xanadu where she presides over hermenagerie at her home in Kawartha Lakes, where she moved in 2014after losing her "son" Darwin a Japanese macaque that escapedfrom her car in an Ikea store.

Images of the tiny monkey wearing a beige shearling coattriggered a social media frenzy and a legal battle that Nakhudaeventually lost to an animal sanctuary that Darwin now calls home.

'He's not Darwin'

Two other monkeys Caesar and Diva have taken Darwin's place.Caesar, also a Japanese macaque, stays close to Nakhuda, shying awayfrom strangers.

"He fills my life, I love him a lot, but he's not Darwin andwill never be Darwin," the 47-year-old real estate lawyer says
through tears as she kisses the monkey on the lips before giving hima raisin.

"They are like us, they want to feel that touch, that love.People should have the right to own these amazing animals and createthese amazing bonds."

Owning exotics wild animals taken from their natural habitat orbred in captivity and not native to the country is a growing trendin Canada, according to animal welfare activists, who blame apatchwork of outdated and inconsistent laws and bylaws.

Rob Laidlaw of Zoocheck, a wildlife protection charity based inToronto, has been fighting for animals' rights for decades. Reliabledata on the number of exotic animals in Canada is difficult to comeby, he says.

"There's a vacuum when it comes to statistics and when you'relooking at actual numbers there is no central registry," Laidlawsays.

Based on his research, Laidlaw believes there are hundreds ofthousands of exotic animals in the country, the vast majority beingreptiles.

"The number of animals like tigers and baboons are going down,anecdotal evidence tells us, but the number of reptiles andamphibians is on the rise in a big way."

Patchwork of laws

It doesn't help that the laws vary wildly across Canada, he says.

"Ontario is probably the worst jurisdiction in the country forexotic animal laws and has been for quite a long time," Laidlawsays.

Only two types of animals are banned by the provincialgovernment: pit bulls and orcas. It is up to municipalities
to create their own bylaws, and many of them, such as Toronto andOttawa, maintain a list of prohibited animals, or as Laidlaw callsit a "negative list."

The problem with "negative lists," he says, is that they mustbe constantly updated.

Instead, he says, Canada should adopt a "positive list"approach used in several European countries that allows ownership ofonly listed animals.

Laidlaw says two provinces, British Columbia and New Brunswick,have taken some action on exotic animal laws.

Both Saskatchewan and Quebec require permits for certain exoticanimals, but none are banned outright. Many provinces in the countrytake a similar approach to Ontario's and leave it to municipalitiesto decide.

The B.C. government brought in the Controlled Alien SpeciesRegulation under the Wildlife Act after a captive tiger at an exoticanimal farm reached through its cage and sliced a woman's leg in2007. She bled to death as three children, including one of her own,watched.

In 2009, the province passed a law that listed 1,300 prohibitedspecies. People who owned animals on the list, which ranged fromhippopotamuses to monkeys to alligators and, of course, tigers were able to apply for a permit to keep the animals, but couldn'tbreed them or display them to the public.

"There are challenges, but it's still better than mostjurisdictions," says Sara Dubois, chief scientific officer with the
B.C. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Enforcing existing bans

The New Brunswick legislature, meanwhile, is expected to debateproposed changes to its exotic animal laws in November. Theprovincial government commissioned a wide-ranging review of its lawsand regulations in the wake of a tragedy where an African rockpython killed two young brothers in Campbellton, N.B.

Autopsies showed the boys, Noah Barthe, 4, and his brother Connor, 6, died by asphyxiation when the 45-kilogram snakeescaped its enclosure inside an apartment, made its way through apipe that collapsed under its weight, and fell into the room wherethe boys were sleeping.

The snake's owner, Jean Claude Savoie, will go on trial inOctober to face a charge of criminal negligence causing death.

Laidlaw says the changes in B.C. and New Brunswick were a step inthe right direction. However, laws must be enforced, Laidlaw says,pointing out that the African rock python involved in the youngbrothers' death has been banned in New Brunswick since 1992.

"It's great to have things on paper, but if nobody is out theredoing the job, not much is going to change."

Ontario to review laws

The Ontario government said it's reviewing the exotic animal lawsand expects to propose new regulations in the next two years.

"We have a patchwork of legislation at the municipal level andit's important that we have consistency across the province andprotection for all Ontarians," said David Orazietti, minister ofcommunity safety and correctional services, which is alsoresponsible for animal welfare.

"Ontario needs to take action on regulation of exotic animals sothat we're not acting in response to a potential tragedy."

Meanwhile, Darwin, the Ikea monkey, darts around in his enclosureat Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary in Sunderland, Ont., grabbinggrapes from a volunteer.

The majority of the 19 primates at Story Book came from the exotic pet trade, according to spokeswoman Daina Liepa. One, asquirrel monkey named Rudy, was found in a dark storage locker ineastern Toronto along with a Harris hawk and several Bengal cats.

"He had overgroomed himself from stress," says Rachelle Hansen,a longtime volunteer at the sanctuary.

She gets emotional when she tells the story of Lexy, a10-year-old Japanese macaque with a penchant for baby dolls.

Darwin now a 'prisoner'

"She always carries that baby with her," she says. "We heardLexy lost a baby, the baby was taken away, likely to be sold as apet ...she's still longing for her baby and carrying her babyaround."

Recently, Hansen says, a man came by to see how Lexy was doing.He told her he bought Lexy nine years ago for $1,000, but gave herup after nine days because he couldn't handle a monkey as a pet.

After bouncing around for a bit at a few roadside zoos, the monkeyended up at Story Book, she says.

Hansen breaks down at one point, explaining why she's volunteeredfor more than 10 years at Story Book.

"Because I see they really need our help," she says throughtears.

Back in Kawartha Lakes, where the only animal bylaws relate todog licensing, Nakhuda also tears up when she talks about Darwinlocked up in a cage like a "prisoner."

"I don't agree with that. He's not happy where he is, he's notwhere he should be," she says as she pulls out another raisin andasks Caesar for a kiss.