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

    Veterans Mount 11,000-Kilometre Horse Ride Across Canada To Create Awareness

    Veterans Mount 11,000-Kilometre Horse Ride Across Canada To Create Awareness
    VICTORIA — Canadian Forces veterans saddled up for an epic cross-country trail ride that aims to include Canadians in the fight against post-traumatic stress, suicide and family strife within the military.

    Veterans Mount 11,000-Kilometre Horse Ride Across Canada To Create Awareness

    B.C. treaty process too slow, but what's next for governments, First Nations?

    B.C. treaty process too slow, but what's next for governments, First Nations?
    VICTORIA — There is easy agreement between First Nations and the British Columbia and federal governments that treaty negotiations are languishing, expensive and fraught with obstacles, but all sides have completely different views on how to solve the trouble.

    B.C. treaty process too slow, but what's next for governments, First Nations?

    Paul McCartney Again Calls For End To Canada's Commercial Seal Hunt

    Paul McCartney Again Calls For End To Canada's Commercial Seal Hunt
    ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Former Beatles frontman Paul McCartney is once again calling for an end to the commercial seal hunt off Canada's East Coast.

    Paul McCartney Again Calls For End To Canada's Commercial Seal Hunt

    More Canadians Scrapping Cable Packages Or Never Signing Up: Report

    More Canadians Scrapping Cable Packages Or Never Signing Up: Report
    TORONTO — More Canadians are choosing to cancel their cable TV and satellite packages and a new report suggests there's no sign of the migration slowing down.

    More Canadians Scrapping Cable Packages Or Never Signing Up: Report

    Accused Toronto Bomb Plotter, Jahanzeb Malik, Ordered Held Again; ID Of Undercover Cop Secret

    Accused Toronto Bomb Plotter, Jahanzeb Malik, Ordered Held Again; ID Of Undercover Cop Secret
    TORONTO — A Pakistani man accused of planning terrorism in Canada will have to stay in custody pending a deportation hearing.

    Accused Toronto Bomb Plotter, Jahanzeb Malik, Ordered Held Again; ID Of Undercover Cop Secret

    Residential Day School Students Who Lost Language And Culture Seek Redress

    Strappings, beatings with a pointed stick and orders to stand in the classroom corner for speaking her own language were among "horrific" measures that erased Darlene Bulpit's ability to pass along her First Nations heritage to her two children and three grandchildren.

    Residential Day School Students Who Lost Language And Culture Seek Redress