By Alexandra Seltzer
Palm Beach Post
PALM BEACH, Fla. — JayJay wore Huggies diapers when he was a baby. He played with kids in the pool. One time he even dressed up as Santa Claus.
JayJay was a 9-year-old macaque monkey, but he was part of the Schwall family. And his human “parents,” Jimmy and Mona Schwall, never expected JayJay to attack Jimmy -- biting him so badly that tendons were ripped from his hand and a friend was forced to shoot and kill the monkey to stop the attack.
“We’re just upset. He’s a pet,” Jimmy Schwall said Thursday from his Martin County home just east of Okeechobee, days after he was released from Martin Memorial Hospital. “He was more than a pet really, he was awesome.”
The attack on Schwalls is another example of why some experts say having exotic animals, including monkeys, is not a good idea.
Owning exotic pets is not unusual in Florida and usually requires only a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission license. But most exotic animals, including monkeys, aren’t meant to be housed like dogs or cats, experts say.
“Anybody that keeps a monkey is going to get bit,” said Lion Country Safari wildlife director Terry Wolf. “I haven’t heard of a monkey that wouldn’t bite somebody.”
In fact, exactly one week before the Aug. 15 attack, a Port St. Lucie man was riding a motorcyle with his pet Marmoset monkey when he crashed in Fort Lauderdale. The monkey ended up biting the finger of a fire-rescue chief.
The Schwalls’ attack started on a normal Wednesday afternoon when Jimmy Schwalls was mowing his lawn.
JayJay, who was about 3 feet tall and weighed about 26 pounds, escaped from the house. Schwall said he tried to capture JayJay with a net while telling his friend to get his gun just in case. The monkey broke free of the net and attacked Jimmy, biting him in the butt and thigh and tearing apart his right hand. Jimmy told his friend to shoot, and the monkey was killed.
Schwall, who owns a landscaping company, said he doesn’t regret keeping the monkey. He said that JayJay just got out of the home, “flipped out” and was “scared.” Schwall had seven tendons and one nerve injured, with each of the wounds about 6 centimeters long, the length of one of JayJay’s teeth. Since the attack, Schwall has had two, three-hour surgeries on his hand.
“I’ve seen dog bites, cat bites, an occasional snake bite, human bites, but I’ve never had a monkey bite,” said Schwall’s plastic and reconstructive surgeon Avron Lipschitz, who is based in Stuart and Jupiter. “I feel like my physical repertoire has expanded.”
Meanwhile, Schwall occupies his time on his 5-acre ranch with other animals: a 1-pound Marmoset monkey named Brat, horses, chickens, llamas and a wide array of dogs. He said he doesn’t plan to give up the Marmoset.
But Wolf said even a small monkey is not meant to be a pet.
“It’s the sterotypical thing. The baby grows up and becomes an adult, the adult resents confinement. All it knows is people, but it’s a monkey,” Wolf said. “You cannot change a monkey into something it’s not.”
In the Fort Lauderdale biting case, Adam Bennet was riding his motorcycle with his monkey in a travel bag. After he crashed his bike and rescuers arrived, he told paramedics that he had his monkey with him, according to a Florida Fish and Wildlife form.
Fire Rescue Chief Stewart Ahearn was about to turn off the motorcycle when the monkey came out from under a wheel and bit his knuckle.
Ahearn, who said he couldn’t comment for this story, received a tetanus shot and a small cut on his left pointer finger.
Neither JayJay nor Bennet’s monkey had any diseases or illnesses.
Even though Schwall faces rehabilitation from JayJay’s attack, he thinks back fondly on his monkey.
“He was the best pet ever,” he said.
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