The New TLC Show “My Monkey Baby” Looks Bananas
Posted by: Annika Harris
Filed in:
news
2:20PM, Tuesday October 6th 2009
There are special people out there in America who want to fill a parental void but don’t actually want any children. Instead of adopting a traditional pet like a dog, cat, or goldfish, these people spend as much as $5,000 to adopt a monkey, often a capuchin monkey that can grow up to 22 inches and 9 pounds. The monkeys are basically toddlers that will never grow up. An estimated 15,000 monkeys live as surrogate children within American families. TLC is currently featuring some of these families on “My Baby Monkey,” which originally aired in Britain. (You can watch videos here.)
Many of the “parents” were empty nesters before adopting their monkeys, or they had experienced troubling childhoods and didn’t want children of their own. Now, these people don’t treat their monkey children, which are sometimes referred to as monkids, like pets. Instead, the monkeys are allowed to eat at the dinner table, wear makeup and designer clothes, have their own decorated bedrooms, and get transported around in baby carriages.
While I can understand the appeal of raising a capuchin monkey like a human baby—they’re cute and cuddly, they’re a close human relative, and they can’t talk back—there are some negatives. First, capuchins are wild animals that bite and have panic attacks when not with their “mothers.” Lori Johnson’s monkid, Jessy, latched on to her shoulder 24/7 for six months when Lori first got her, and when Jessy started nipping at Lori and her husband, they had her teeth removed. Also, the real mothers of these babies are often shot with sedatives in order for the baby to be removed. The monkeys are often lonely and depressed despite having human companionship. Kari Bagnall, who runs Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary in Florida which houses many surrogate monkeys after their “parents” can no longer care for them, says attacks are inevitable. “I have monkeys here that the people have had for 20 years. Never had a problem,” she said to ABC News. “Twenty years later, the monkey attacks. So it’s just something, it’s going to happen. It’s not a matter of, you know, if they’re going to attack. It’s when.” [ABC News, Channel4]
TheFrisky.com is part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network
Perceptible
wrote on October 6 2009 @ 01:33 pm: [report]
I used to LOVE TLC, back when they introduced shows like Trading Spaces, What Not To Wear, and Clean Sweep. But they’ve just gone full crazy now. A series about people who raise monkeys like children?! I don’t know which is crazier — the people who thought this would be a good show, or the folks raising the monkeys.
I Go To 11
wrote on October 6 2009 @ 02:11 pm: [report]
There is a reason certain animals are supposed to be in zoos and not homes, and Kari Bagnall explained why in the article above. This is as crazy as having a pet tiger or lion; they were never intended to be domesticated in the first place, so eventually they will attack. It’s just their nature as wild animals, and no amount of training can prohibit that from ever occurring.
lea322
wrote on October 6 2009 @ 03:20 pm: [report]
Pets-as-children in general really annoy me. Plus, how can they make an entire series out of this?
Olivia Allin
wrote on October 6 2009 @ 03:23 pm: [report]
I’m really excited for the craziness that will be “My Baby Monkey” but I’m even more psyched for the inevitable spin-off, “When Monkey Babies Attack”!
tattooed_redhead
wrote on October 6 2009 @ 04:16 pm: [report]
I am child-free by choice, and while I love my 2 cats and dog to death, nothing bothers me more than people who call me their mother. Hello??? Me human, them feline and canine. I’m not thawing out my uterus for human spawn, let alone something covered in fur!! I honestly believe that people who call their pets children are unbalanced. Want a kid? Have a kid! But animals are animals, and humans are humans.
Em219
wrote on October 6 2009 @ 06:33 pm: [report]
I caught the tail end of this show on Sunday! It’s ridiculous. If anyone wants to see another crazy pet owner show, find out when “I’m Obsessed With My Pet” is on.
cali_candy
wrote on October 6 2009 @ 09:29 pm: [report]
There’s a shelter in my hometown for “wild” animals who have been adopted by people, usually neglected, and then confiscated. They had everything from monkeys to lions and tigers (and ligers!). Some of the big cats had been so mistreated, it was so heartbreaking. One of the lions had been confined in a cage way too short for it and walked flat-footed as a result (instead of on its foot pads like a cat should).
MarieMacCee
wrote on October 7 2009 @ 12:14 pm: [report]
This show is basically an adaptation of the real life story: “I am dating a man who acts like a monkey”
don’t lie….we’ve all done it
Casper
wrote on October 7 2009 @ 03:20 pm: [report]
I watched that, i spent the entire time staring at the tv in disbelief. I get why they want to have to monkey instead because they are forever little and depend on you for life but they’re animals, animals are not ment to be dressed up in makeup and clothes and they are NOT ment to have their teeth removed because they’re not happy with being dressed up and treated like a child. If you want a child have a child, or adopt/foster. How are they still being allowed to do this?