KHQ Right Now - News and Weather for Spokane and North Idaho | Chico the monkey has been euthanized

Chico the monkey has been euthanized

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SPOKANE, Wash. - Chico the monkey has been euthanized by Spokane County health officials.

Officials say the monkey had to be put down to test for rabies after it bit three people on the South Hill.

Born Free USA united with the Animal Protection Institute (Born Free USA), a national animal advocacy organization, had been calling upon public health officials to act at once to halt the destruction of Chico, the monkey who bit three people after escaping from his Spokane-area home earlier this month.

"This is a tragic situation. There is no medical reason why this monkey should be killed," says Dr. Ned Buyukmichi, veterinarian and co-director of the Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary. "The only reported case of a "pet" monkey having rabies was almost a hundred years ago and involved a monkey bitten by a rabid dog. Moreover, Chico, the Spokane monkey has been in quarantine for 10 days since the incident and has reportedly shown no sign of rabies."

Born Free USA has offered to re-home the animal at its Primate Sanctuary near San Antonio, Texas, which is home to more than 400 macaques, baboons and vervets, many of whom came from deplorable or inappropriate private homes or businesses. The Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary is one of the very few in the U.S. that provide large, free-ranging, natural enclosures on 186 acres of dense vegetation with several ponds. The majority of monkeys live freely in these enclosures with minimum human interference.

"Monkeys are wild animals and do not belong in people's backyards or other captive situations, and this is a prime example of why," adds Dr. Buyukmichi. "We had hoped our offer to re-home Chico to our Sanctuary would be accepted so he could live out the rest of his days in a natural environment with others of his kind. Instead, he will lose his life  - his 'crime' nothing more than being kept inappropriately as a 'pet'."

"Spokane health officials, as well as others in Washington State, must immediately review protocols for dealing with such situations so that animals do not continue to pay for human mistakes with their lives," says Nicole G. Paquette, Esq., Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Born Free USA. "Washington State has banned the keeping of dangerous exotic animals for this exact reason."

Born Free USA's offer of lifetime care for Chico remains but officials from the organization are struggling to break through the wall of pre-recorded messages protecting the Spokane's Public Health Department.

This decry comes after the Health Department delivered an order to Spokanimal to hand over Chico the monkey to the Health Department to be euthanized.

Chico, once blamed for hurling feces at federal agents, was going to be euthanized and tested for rabies on Monday at Spokanimal.

But according to officials, the director of Spokanimal decided that the business has a moral objection to completing the task. The director is not saying that the monkey will not be euthanized, but is saying that if it happens, it won't happen at Spokanimal.

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Chico harassed the federal agents when they went to his owner's home in 2005 to investigate a Spokane-based Internet operation selling fake diplomas.

Chico got into trouble again on Feb. 28 when he escaped and bit three people on Spokane's South Hill.

He's been held at the Spokanimal animal shelter since then.

Dr. Larry Jecha, acting head of the Spokane Regional Health District, signed Chico's death warrant Sunday afternoon. Health officials said that because the monkey bit three people, it has to be tested for rabies, and there is no way to test for rabies without killing it.

(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)