Monkeys barely miss getting protected status

In its first reading, the measure passed 4-3, with Councilwoman Tamela Wiseman and Councilmen Bill MacIlvaine and Clark Russell voting against protecting the monkeys.

Councilman Gary Galleberg joined them Wednesday, shifting the balance of the vote from passing the ordinance on its second reading to killing it. He said he wasn't comfortable with passage by such a narrow margin.

"This should not be forced through 4-3 in a pitched battle," Galleberg said. "I also don't think we should have open season on these (monkeys)."

Most vehement in her opposition to protecting the primates was Wiseman, who said she was more concerned about the threats to people from monkeys than the reverse.

Wiseman said she was at first annoyed that the city would consider legislation she considers silly.

The law would've made it illegal to kill, trap, molest or harass the squirrel monkeys that have lived for 40 years in the woods near the Collier Athletic Club off Seventh Avenue North.

An estimated 20 squirrel monkeys once lived near the club, but monkey watchers say the number has dwindled to a half-dozen in recent years.

Reports have persisted of animal traders hunting the monkeys with drug-laden bananas and selling them as pets or lab animals.

The law would have allowed government agencies to trap the monkeys, had they become a nuisance or a danger to people.

The latter was what worried Wiseman, who said she went from being annoyed to being frightened by the possibility of a member of the band becoming infected with a virus from a released pet monkey and infecting a person.

"We have to be realistic that these are wild animals," Wiseman said.

Those who favored the ordinance said the monkeys have lived peaceably beside humans for decades without incident, and they deserve some protection.

Besides which, argued Mayor Bonnie MacKenzie, the ordinance would not have been written in stone.

"This is an ordinance, not a charter amendment," she said.