Monkey Wanders Loose in Parking Lot at Toronto Ikea Store

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When you leave a dog in the car, as some owners do, it might bark at passersby not so much out of a territory instinct or belligerence, but out of sheer boredom. Now imagine an even more intelligent beast being left in the car, say, a monkey. The critter is liable to escape. This happened in an Ikea parking lot in Toronto. A monkey wearing a shearling coat and diapers was found wandering the parking lot, without any owner in sight.

Stephanie Yim, a shopper at Ikea, reported to CBC News that when she spotted the monkey peeking out at her from behind a vehicle, she doubted her senses. “It was the weirdest thing. I thought I was going insane.”

Nevertheless, when fellow shoppers confirmed her sanity, they followed the monkey to ensure it didn’t get hurt and was returned to its owner. Yim said it didn’t appear scared, but it did seem disconcerted. “It would start ‘monkey-screaming,’” Yim explained. “It seemed like it was screaming around for someone [it] knew. It was sad.”

  

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Like a lost child, the pet was eager for its “parents,” but unlike a lost child, the owners reported it to animal control. The monkey was picked up and taken away, but did eventually find its way back to its owners, who had been shopping at the time.

Toronto Police Sgt. Dzingala explained that it had let itself out of its crate. “It’s a smart monkey,” he said. And though it is against the law to own a monkey as a pet in Toronto, Dzingala said that police haven’t pressed any charges or fines.

One of the many lessons to be learned from this incident is that if you are going to take a monkey out of the house, it’s probably best not to leave it alone in the car for the same reason you wouldn’t leave a small child in the car: they might get scared, confused, and try to find you.