If you are a young rock and roll star touring the world, maybe you shouldn’t take on a pet? Justin Bieber’s decision to take on a capuchin monkey, only to abandon it when customs seized the beast for lacking papers, doesn’t exactly suggest the monkey was loved or especially cared for by the pop star sensation.
Munich’s customs office may have taken over possession of the monkey after hearing nothing further officially from Bieber. If they haven’t heard from him as of midnight on Friday – and the three-day weekend’s mail will clarify that on Tuesday – then the monkey will have become the property of the German State.
“If no further documents arrive then the seizure order comes into effect and the animal becomes property of the German state,” said customs spokesman Thomas Meister to The Associated Press.
That’s probably for the best. The monkey was taken too young, as the shelter that’s watched it has said, saying that such a monkey should be with its mother until it is at least a year old. The monkey is now about 20 weeks old, and was of course even younger when it was seized on March 28. The monkey is also an especially social variety. Said a worker at the animal shelter, “The best thing would be not to buy one at all, but if you do, buy five.” And so the monkey is probably lonely, and would be happier anyway at the zoo where it is likely to go. Though the pop star seemed to like his pet enough, it is disputable the social animal could be happy as a solitary pet with an ostensibly preoccupied owner.
It has meanwhile racked up thousands of dollars in bills for its two-month stay at the animal shelter.
“You can bet we are going to ask for that money back,” said Meister.