Buzzin Bizarre

I recently watched a surreal TV documentary on More 4 TV channel in the UK, called My Monkey Baby.

I say surreal, but it is really just weird, it is about rather odd couples that decide to raise a monkey, not as a pet, but as if the animal were their own child.

We are told that there are around 15,000 monkey babies living in homes across the USA and for some owners/parents the human like qualities of monkeys make them the ideal option to having a real family.

The monkeys should not complain however as they are spoiled rotten by their not quite right in the head parents, who shower them with normal childrens clothes, toys, games and even make up.

Watching the ‘Mothers’ dressing the little darlings up is like watching young girls playing with their dolls, while taking the monkey out in a pram really is surreal.

It transpires that many of the parents have lost touch with their own, or step, children, who obviously ran at the first chance and never looked back.

Really I could go on for hours, but I will instead leave you with this quote from Lori and Jim Johnson:

‘If I hear anyone call her a monkey I throw a fit,’ says ‘dad’ Jim, ‘She’s my daughter, 100%’.

For Lori, having a ‘monkid’ seemed the perfect answer to her needs: ‘I knew exactly what I was going to do, she was going to be a baby I was going to have forever.’