>On Tue, 13 May 2003   Stephanie write:
>Okay, I understand dogs as service animals and I can understand cats
>as emotional support animals, heck my ferrets are there for me.....but
>MONKEYS?  When did monkeys become service animals?  I firmly believe
>that monkeys should not be in a pet situation and a service animal
>should be your pet as well.  I have nothing against monkeys, in fact I
>love to learn about non-human primates but I love to learn about large
>cats as well but I don't believe either of them make good pet material.
 
Capuchin monkeys have been used to assist quadriplegics since at least
1981; that's the year I helped with the pilot project which became
"Helping Hands".
 
http://www.helpinghandsmonkeys.org/
 
You are right -- monkeys make very poor PETS; they require far more
training and attention than most people give their "pets".  Having raised
monkeys, I would not encourage anyone to adopt a monkey as a pet.  But I
have also seen monkeys devote themselves to helping the human in their
care -- and I use anthropomorphic terms on purpose; they seem to know
that their person is handicapped and care for them as they would an
injured or baby monkey.  The monkeys that do not make that sort of
connection to people wash out of the program, just as many of the
seeing-eye dog candidates wash out of their program.  For dogs,
programmed by domestication to want to please humans, the challenge is
learning "intelligent disobedience"; they must learn to disobey even a
direct order if it might bring harm to their person.  Monkeys are
different; they are not by nature domesticated.  For them, the challenge
is learning to relate to and love a human.  Those that do learn this
are excellent caretakers.  I don't know if I would call them "pets", but
they are truly loved and loving family members.
 
There has been some discussion of domestication on this board (I'm
trying to make this not quite so OT).  Ferrets are domesticated,
while polecats are wild animals.  Those of you who have polecats or
ferret-polecat crosses know what a difference domestication makes, but
also know that polecats can be loving companions.  Do polecats make good
"pets"?  No, and I wouldn't recommend them to most people.  They don't
have a pre-preprogrammed ability to relate to humans, as ferrets do.
But I think ferret owners are far more likely than most pet owners to
know what it means to have an animal that requires far more attention
and human socialization than the average dog or cat.
 
-Claire (cheered on by Sam, Frankie, and Missy)
[Posted in FML issue 4148]