Whatever happened to the amphetamine-fed monkey seized from a Westwood man?

Skotty is a black-capped capuchin monkey who prosecutors said was abused and fed amphetamines by the Westwood man who owned him.

In February 2022, when authorities seized Skotty, then about 6 months old, he was so underweight that one advocate described the animal as looking like “a Holocaust survivor.”

He was lethargic and lacked the coordination to pick up food from a plate and put it in his mouth.

Skotty on the day he was seized from his owner's Westwood apartment in February 2022. — Skotty on the day he was seized from his owner’s Westwood apartment in February 2022.

Now, nearly three years later, Skotty – who still has his baby teeth – is living at a sanctuary in Florida, surrounded by capuchins and other monkeys.

He is at the proper weight. He can run and climb. He is close with a female monkey about the same age, named Harriet Houdini.

“She has become like his sister,” said Kari Bagnall, who runs Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary, a facility in Gainesville, Florida that in late November housed 191 monkeys.

“She and Skotty just play and play and play,” Bagnall said.

Skotty, a capuchin monkey, lives at a sanctuary in Gainesville, Florida.

This outcome wasn’t necessarily guaranteed when Skotty arrived at Bagnall’s sanctuary in March 2022.

Westwood to Indiana to Florida

After being taken from the Westwood man, Skotty (then known as Neo) was housed at Peaceable Primate Sanctuary in Winamac, Indiana, where he underwent what prosecutors described as “rehab.” The man who owned him ended up pleading guilty to a misdemeanor animal cruelty charge.

Eventually, Bagnall offered to allow the monkey to live permanently at her facility. She picked Skotty up in Chattanooga, Tennessee – an employee from the Indiana facility met her there – and drove back to Gainesville.

Her facility has been operational since the late 1990s.

About half the monkeys living there are rescued pets, she said. The other half includes former lab monkeys used for malaria research, drug addiction studies and vocal cord and gastrointestinal tract studies.

Bagnall said Skotty, still a baby, was tiny when he arrived. They introduced him to two female monkeys but his legs didn’t work properly – apparently because he had been fed drugs – and he couldn’t cling to either of them.

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Staff at the sanctuary bottle-fed him. About a dozen staff members, including Bagnall, took turns sleeping with him and feeding him every four hours.

Having different humans care for him, Bagnall said, helped make sure he wouldn’t become attached to one particular person.

A capuchin monkey seized in 2022 from a Westwood man's apartment, is now thriving at a facility in Florida, prosecutors say. Skotty, whose name was Neo when he was seized, tested positive for amphetamines and was severely malnourished, prosecutors said, when animal control officers took him from the apartment. — A capuchin monkey seized in 2022 from a Westwood man’s apartment, is now thriving at a facility in Florida, prosecutors say. Skotty, whose name was Neo when he was seized, tested positive for amphetamines and was severely malnourished, prosecutors said, when animal control officers took him from the apartment.

“We wanted him to be a monkey,” she said. “We didn’t want to humanize him.”

It worked, she said.

In addition to his sister-like relationship with Harriet Houdini, Skotty has bonded with a monkey in her early 30s, named Kooda.

‘Just a baby boy’

Kooda has become like a mother to both Skotty and Harriet Houdini, Bagnall said, grooming and caring for both. They all sleep together in an indoor enclosure. They spend their days – except when it’s too cold or when there’s a storm – in an enclosed outdoor habitat with trees and branches for them to climb.

When he first arrived, Skotty was only able to hop around but now runs “like a maniac” and does somersaults.

“Now, you wouldn’t know that there was ever anything wrong with him,” she said.

“He’s just a baby boy,” she added. “Just a character. He wants all the attention.”

Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary in Gainesville, Florida encourages sponsorship of individual monkeys. For more information, go to: junglefriends.org and click on “How You Can Help.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: How an amphetamine-fed monkey went from Westwood to Florida sanctuary

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