Ikea monkey ‘mom’ ordered to pay primate sanctuary
Posted January 17, 2014 10:09 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO (NEWS1130) – An Ontario court has ordered the woman who calls herself the Ikea monkey’s “mom” to pay more than $80,000 to a primate sanctuary she sued.
Yasmin Nakhuda lost ownership of Darwin the monkey after he escaped from her car in December of 2012 at an Ikea store in Toronto.
Animal services nabbed the monkey and sent him to Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary in Sunderland, Ont., which Nakhuda sued in an attempt to get the animal back.
An Ontario Superior Court judge ruled in September that the monkey is wild, and based on case law that means Nakhuda lost ownership the minute Darwin made his escape.
The court released a decision on costs today, ordering Nakhuda to pay the sanctuary and its owner $83,000, which is in addition to her own legal costs.
Lawyer Kevin Toyne represented the sanctuary, but the court said it is still appropriate in some such cases for lawyers to get some reimbursement for their services from the losing side in a lawsuit.
