Close X
Thursday, November 28, 2024
ADVT 
National

IKEA Monkey Needs Help Keeping Roof Over Its Head, Sanctuary Appeals For Funds

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 15 Apr, 2015 12:14 PM
    TORONTO — The Ikea monkey needs help keeping a roof over its head.
     
    Darwin the monkey — whose story went viral in December 2012 when he was found wandering outside an Ikea store wearing a shearling coat — has been living at Ontario's Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary ever since a court placed him in its care.
     
    The sanctuary in Sunderland, Ont., east of Toronto, has been trying to raise money for a move to new premises since late last year but says donations have dried up and "the situation is desperate."
     
    Story Book is now launching a renewed push for funds, saying it will be evicted from its current premises on June 30.
     
    Daina Liepa, a member of the sanctuary's board of directors, says Story Book is "out of options and out of money."
     
    The sanctuary is appealing to the public as it seeks to raise $250,000 to give Darwin and his fellow primates a new home.
     
    "At Story Book Farm, these primates are given dignity and allowed to be who they are as much as possible. But two more turns of the calendar and they will be homeless and with no reasonable options for living quarters," Liepa wrote in a letter to supporters. "Story Book Farm can be saved but they can’t do it alone."
     
    Darwin is mentioned by name in the sanctuary's latest call for financial help, but Story Book notes it houses 20 monkeys.
     
    Darwin became something of an international celebrity after he escaped from a crate in his owner's car parked in a Toronto Ikea parking lot.
     
    Images of him in his tiny beige shearling coat as he wandered all the way into the store triggered a social media frenzy.
     
    Animal services seized him and sent him to Story Book, prompting his owner, Yasmin Nakhuda to sue the sanctuary in an effort to get him back.
     
    An Ontario Superior Court justice then ruled that Darwin is a wild animal and that Nakhuda's ownership ended with his escape from her car.
     
    Nakhuda decided to appeal the ruling but abandoned her effort, saying it was too costly and had little chance of success.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    New Westminster Teen Who Died In Vernon While Rock-Climbing With Friends Identified As Taylor Archer

    New Westminster Teen Who Died In Vernon While Rock-Climbing With Friends Identified As Taylor Archer
    The BC Coroners Service says Taylor Archer of New Westminster, B.C., was climbing near the King Edward access logging area with some friends.

    New Westminster Teen Who Died In Vernon While Rock-Climbing With Friends Identified As Taylor Archer

    2 Pilots From Missing B.C. Plane Found Dead Amid Wreckage Near Mt. Seymour: Official

    2 Pilots From Missing B.C. Plane Found Dead Amid Wreckage Near Mt. Seymour: Official
    VANCOUVER — Search and rescue crews have found the bodies of two pilots in and around the wreckage of a cargo plane that crashed in heavily treed mountains north of Vancouver. 

    2 Pilots From Missing B.C. Plane Found Dead Amid Wreckage Near Mt. Seymour: Official

    B.C. Man Alleging 'false Imprisonment' In China To Get Day In Canadian Court

    B.C. Man Alleging 'false Imprisonment' In China To Get Day In Canadian Court
    VANCOUVER — A British Columbia man has won the right to sue a company in a Canadian court that he alleges conspired with Chinese authorities to force him to spend years behind bars in China.

    B.C. Man Alleging 'false Imprisonment' In China To Get Day In Canadian Court

    Conservatives Fuel Opposition To Ontario's Sex-Ed Curriculum: Liberal Minister

    Conservatives Fuel Opposition To Ontario's Sex-Ed Curriculum: Liberal Minister
    TORONTO — Conservative groups are fuelling the vocal opposition to Ontario's new sex-education curriculum, Liberal Education Minister Liz Sandals said Tuesday as thousands of people protested outside the legislature.

    Conservatives Fuel Opposition To Ontario's Sex-Ed Curriculum: Liberal Minister

    Justin Trudeau Might Be Open To Forming Coalition With NDP, But Not With Mulcair As Leader

    Justin Trudeau Might Be Open To Forming Coalition With NDP, But Not With Mulcair As Leader
    OTTAWA — Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau says he would "maybe" be more open to the idea of forming a coalition with the NDP if Tom Mulcair was not running the party.

    Justin Trudeau Might Be Open To Forming Coalition With NDP, But Not With Mulcair As Leader

    B.C. 'Hosed' In Coquitlam Land Sale To Liberal Donor

    B.C. 'Hosed' In Coquitlam Land Sale To Liberal Donor
    NDP justice critic Mike Farnworth said British Columbians were "hosed" when the government sold about 150 hectares of property in Coquitlam for $85 million when the land was appraised at $128 million.

    B.C. 'Hosed' In Coquitlam Land Sale To Liberal Donor