Comments On: Dania Florida Monkeys

The following extracts come from Margo Harakas' article "Where have all the monkeys gone?" that appeared in the 26 November 1995 issue of the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. WHERE HAVE ALL THE MONKEYS GONE? [part 1]
A TROOP OF MONKEYS HAD ROAMED FREE IN EASTERN DANIA FOR 40 YEARS. THIS YEAR, THEY VANISHED.... "People are coming by here every day asking where the monkeys are," says a resident of Weiner Mobile Home Park in eastern Dania. "It's strange now that you don't see them."
For 40 years the fringe-faced vervets had visited the park, playing along the fence line, mocking owner Bill Weiner as he moved the grass, and, when the mangoes were plump and juicy, stripping ol' Bill's big tree bare. Mostly, though, they'd just hang out at the back of the park, looking cute and clownish, accepting handouts from the hordes who gathered to view them. But earlier this year something happened. It was around last April, Weiner says, when he noticed the curious occurences at the property behind the Mobile Home Park on Dania Beach Boulevard. First, the gate was torn down, "twice," he says. Then strange noises "squealing and hollering" rose from the thicket like a chilled morning fog. Not long after, folks got to mentioning the fence-line clowns were gone.
"They were fun," Weiner says, "they never bothered anyone." They were used to humans being around. That's what may have made them easy to catch." Had it not been for a tourist attraction that went belly-up 40 years ago, monkeys would no more be a part of the wilds of Dania than elephants or kangaroos... The depth of public affection became clear two years ago, when residents angrily blocked an animal trapper hired to relocate the primates. The standoff, which drew national media attention, was prompted by an incident in which a motorist struck and killed a monkey along Dania Beach Boulevard. When the man got out of the car to move the dead animal from the roadway, the troop, moving to protect its own, reportedly charged him.
The driver escaped uninjured, but the incident left Weiner and landowner Louis Sands fearful they'd be sued if someone was ever bitten. Together they hired the trapper, who proved no match for the monkeys' defenders. Assured they would not be held reponsible for the behavior of the monkeys - so long as warning signs were posted on the property.
Weiner and Sands called off the trapper... Now, two years later and unknown to Weiner or the monkey supporters, another trapper stalked the area. This time he was unsummoned. Fort Lauderdale animal dealer James Anderson, fresh from snatching squirrel monkeys from outside the wall around the Bonnet House, had set his sights on Dania's vervets.
"Too much aggravation at the Bonnet House," Anderson would later explain, a reference not to the monkeys but to the police offficer who challenged his right to lure the monkeys - with fresh fruit - over the wall and into the back of his van... Anderson says he got $2,400 for the three squirrel monkeys he took outside the Bonnet House. The vervets and the squirrel monkeys are exotic species largely unprotected by law. Laws ban their import as pets so demand for monkeys is high. More on the next note. Brad and Trouble
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WHERE HAVE ALL THE MONKEYS GONE? [part 2]
A TROOP OF MONKEYS HAD ROAMED FREE IN EASTERN DANIA FOR 40 YEARS. THIS YEAR, THEY VANISHED.... And the enterprising Anderson could literally pluck them right off the trees in Dania... Anderson says it was his brother-in-law, "a native American from Maine," he would not identify who actually shot the monkeys with tranquillizer darts...
Anderson is fuzzy about precisely where he captured his prey. He says his brother-in-law sloshed through water for 10 days in pursuit of the monkeys. At one point, he says, the water was chest-high. At another, he says, his brother-in-law darted them from a boat in the Intracoastal, not on land.
"That's a little hard to believe," says Lt. John West of the state's Game and Freshwater Fish Commission. Where the monkeys were when captured matters, for the property where they roamed includes private and public lands. Permission to take the monkeys, in either case, would have to be given... Anderson had no such permission.
Anderson says he hoped to bag at least 18 monkeys but ended up with seven... Whatever the number of monkeys in Dania last year, there are at least seven fewer now. And Bob Kauth, Executive Director of the Bonnet House, estimates as many as 20 or 30 monkeys are gone from the grounds there, too, though Anderson insists he removed only three from the adjacent property...
Of the seven monkeys Anderson captured, three males and three females went to Rainforest Aviaries and Gardens in the Redlands in South Dade (the seventh died of respiratory infection, he says)...
Rainforest A and G owner Frank Blanco got the vervets from Anderson on April 19, trading six fennec foxes for them. One of the monkeys died shortly after Blanco received it. Blanco sold a second monkey to a breeder in Indiana. He'll keep the remaining for to breed. Anderson says he sold the six fennec foxes he received in the deal out of state, for $4,500...
What the Dania monkeys have lost, of course, is freedom. And the folks who were drawn to them have lost the enjoyment of seeing the creatures in the wild. Some, like Shirley McGreal of the International Primate Protection League in Summerville, SC, says that in 40 years the vervets have earned a place in the Dania environment. They are no more exotic, she says, than dogs, cats and the human population...
Meanwhile, last month the USDA suspended Anderson's license for 30 days. The action came after the agency cited him for failing to properly label shipping crates and identify transported animals. A $20,000 civil penalty was suspended. Two weeks ago the state Fresh Water Fish and Game Commission charged Anderson with two new violations: possession of a gibbon without the proper permit and failure to have a properly sized cage. Brad and Trouble
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Brad, In just read your article with GREAT interest. A friend and I had a VERY interesting meeting with the owner of the aviary in the article.
Had I seen this article earlier it would have definetly saved me some heartache !!!!!!!!
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YOU HAVE A GREAT WEB PAGE BUT I NEED A PICTURE OF A MONKY
IF THAT IS NO INCONVIENCE TO YOU I WOULD APPRECIATE
IT A WHOOOOOOOLE BUNCH.

MEGAN M.
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I love monkeys
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I grew up right there for 24 yrs as a teen we use to go to the drive in movies!! across from the Fort Lauderdale Airport, It was rumored that across the woods, there lived wild monkeys!!!! We use to go to the Jetties at Dina beach at all times of day and night and not once did I or any of my friends see or run across a monkey!!!!! But we did hear them!! sceaming and talking to each other they were one of the great sounds of Florida. I only wish that I too could have seen them like many other who live Dina, I also had the opportunity to own a wooley monkey named Ginger she was the love of our lives Ginger was like a baby sister to me. I am Sad to hear that someone came in after all those yeras of the monkeys living in nature without any one doing any thing to them!! That some Jackass can come in remove them After 40 years of living there. They had more right to be there then 90% of those who live in Florida.
Thanks for the info I didn't know
that anything was happening to them
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Do you have any capuchins for sale/adoption or know any breeders? My fiance and I would really love to parent one once we're married next spring.

Thank you,
Jennifer

From the desk of Jennifer Hines
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I loved your article. I have researched capuchin monkeys and would love to adopt. Do you have any information as to breeders and recommendations for me.
I would greatly appreciate any help you can give me.
Tammy Jo - North Carolina
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I am a scientist. I saw wild monkeys in Florida. It was quite a site. A am not lying, because I am a scientist.
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