Monkey Death Trial Did Not Address Issues

* I was disgusted by the recent trial of a Van Nuys man accused of killing his girlfriend’s pet capuchin monkey.

I was called to testify as an expert witness in this well-publicized trial. Unfortunately the most important issues were never addressed.

This animal suffered unnecessarily, not only at the time of its apparently violent death but probably all of its short life as a pet. The ignorance of people who acquire these exotic animals as pets is appalling. It is illegal to keep exotic animals as pets for obvious reasons.

Wild animals don’t make good pets and were not put on this Earth for our entertainment alone.

There are many stories told of exotic animals as pets, and most of them have a sad ending. Unfortunately, it is the animal who gets the life or death sentence and the people responsible get off scot-free.

This case was also about an obvious case of animal cruelty, and although the defendent was acquitted, if this were a case involving a human being, it would not be dropped and forgotten about. It would be further investigated until the guilty party was brought to justice.

I can only hope that the general public and our legal system have learned some lessons and that Amanda the capuchin did not die in vain.

LAURIE HRDLICKA

Burbank

Hrdlicka, an animal keeper at the Los Angeles Zoo, has reared primates there for 12 years.