Owner Loses First Ruling Over Fate of Pet Monkey

Armani Is Too Young to Be Legal, Board Says

Armani, the pet capuchin monkey whose fate has drawn national attention, won't be returning to his Rockville home, at least for now.

His owner has lost the first round of her battle against Montgomery County authorities, who seized Armani last month after determining that Elyse Gazewitz had violated laws against keeping wild animals as pets.

In a six-page opinion issued late Tuesday, the county's Animal Matters Hearing Board rejected Gazewitz's claim that she owned Armani in May 2006, the state's cutoff date for having a pet monkey. Instead, the panel members said they believed veterinary and zoo reports that Armani is 5 months old, too young for Gazewitz to have owned him more than a year ago.

Gazewitz said she will appeal the ruling to Montgomery Circuit Court.

"They don't care," Gazewitz said yesterday of the board's decision. "He's just a monkey to them. To me, he's everything. My life is miserable."

Armani, a four-pound, 18-inch brown and black capuchin, will remain at the Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo in Frederick County while the case is pending.

Montgomery police, who oversee the Division of Animal Control and Humane Treatment, said the ruling supports their officers' actions.

"Our goal from the beginning was to uphold the law, to ensure the community's safety, and to ensure the safety, health and well-being of the capuchin monkey," police said in a statement.

Gazewitz, 42, who refers to Armani as her "baby" and dressed him in Huggies diapers and infant outfits, said he lived with her for a year before officers showed up at her home May 16 to investigate a report that he was being mistreated.

The officers found Armani in good health but seized him because state and county laws designed to protect public health forbid people to keep monkeys as pets, police said.

The decision by the board, a volunteer panel appointed by the county executive, covered only whether Armani's seizure was proper. Gazewitz is scheduled for an August hearing in Montgomery District Court on six civil violations amounting to $1,800 in fines.

Gazewitz's attorney, Anne Benaroya, questioned the timing of the board's decision one day after Gazewitz filed a lawsuit against the animal services division's captain protesting Armani's seizure.