The coat-wearing monkey, whose photo running around Ikea went viral last year, will not be returned to its owner.
An Ontario Canada judge ruled that Yasmin Nakhuda's monkey named Darwin will remain in an animal sanctuary, Yahoo News Canada reported.
Justice Mary Vallee said Darwin is meant for the wild and is not to be kept as a pet, which was an important legal part of the case because the law states the owner of a wild animal is the party that possesses it Yahoo News Canada reported.
"Concerns about illegally imported monkey disease were good reasons to detain the monkey," Vallee said in her ruling. "Ms. Nakhuda maintaining that the monkey was a gift shows that she was prepared to embellish the facts to improve her legal position. This undermines her credibility."
Vallee said Nakhuda bought Darwin for $5,000 from an exotic animal dealer when she knew it was illegal and lied by saying it was a gift.
Vallee did not accept Nakhuda's case that animal services in Toronto behaved in an illegal manner by taking Darwin, a Japanese snow macaque, and put him 100 kilometres, northeast of Toronto in the Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary in Sunderland, Ontario, Yahoo News Canada reported.
This began a custody battle between Nakhuda and the sanctuary over who was allowed to have Darwin. Nakhuda became the owner of Darwin after speaking with an exotic pets dealer, known only as Ayaz, and expressing interest in owning a monkey.
This led to the dealer, giving Darwin to her on a free-trial basis to see how she liked it and if she was able to handle the monkey. The situation proved troublesome because she had difficulty controlling him and his biting, screaming, and wild movements when Nakhuda had change his diaper.
Ayaz then taught Darwin to comply with the rules and act maturely when he needed a new diaper, but Nakhuda was not reportedly comfortable with his method, and took back her decision of wanting the animal..
However, Darwin grew more and more attached to Nakhuda causing her to retract her decision and pay Ayaz the money.
"Ms. Nakhuda requested a receipt but Ayaz told her that he doesn't provide receipts or papers," according to Valle's decision Yahoo News Canada reported "Ms. Nakhuda understood she had purchased an 'illegal' animal."
Nakhuda reportedly went to Ayaz for assistance when the story became public. He told her to walk away and reportedly promised her she would be refunded the $5,000.
Darwin turned into an internet sensation after he was filmed and photographed running around the parking lot of an Ikea in north Toronto in December after he was able to get out of a parked car in the lot wearing a shearling coat and diapers.
