There was a period of several years during my childhood when I begged my parents for a pet monkey. This wish was so consistent and so sincere that at one point my maternal grandfather actually approached my mother with an offer to get me one. (A story I did not hear until YEARS afterward.)
My Mom’s response was something along the lines of, “That’s fine as long as it lives at YOUR house.”
Needless to say, I never got a pet monkey.
So I guess it’s no surprise that I was a little bit envious reading about the zookeepers in Melbourne, Australia, who are hand-raising a baby spider monkey that was abandoned by it’s mother … with the help of a plush toy that the little tyke clings to for comfort.
Which is kind of ironic since I was also comforted by a plush toy monkey when I couldn’t have the real thing.
