MAPLEWOOD, Minn. — Police say they've learned the capuchin monkey stolen earlier this week is believed to have been taken in North St. Paul, not from a vehicle in a Cub Foods parking lot in Maplewood.
Maplewood Police provided an update Friday afternoon, saying the theft occurred around 8 p.m. on the 2200 block of 7th Avenue East in North St. Paul. The original police report said the monkey was stolen from someone's vehicle in a Cub Foods parking lot Tuesday night in Maplewood.
The North St. Paul Police Department is now taking over the investigation. Anyone with information pertinent to the investigation can reach out to North St. Paul Police at 651-767-0640 or can submit an anonymous tip through here.
Police are asking for anyone who may have information about theft to to contact Lt. Joe Steiner at 651-249-2608 or at joe.steiner@maplewoodmn.gov.
According to the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, most primatologists are strongly against keeping primates as pets.
But several states currently have no bans on owning exotic animals.
According to Minnesota law, it is illegal to own a "regulated animal," which includes all nonhuman primates, including, but not limited to, lemurs, monkeys, chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, marmosets, lorises, and tamarins.
"It is illegal to possess a capuchin monkey or any kind of monkey in Minnesota, after January 1, 2005, unless it was grandfathered in," said Lt. Joe Steiner, with Maplewood PD. "We're still reviewing state statute and federal law and trying to determine where the owner lives, state residency and whether she has posession in that state and how we can reconnect the owner and Coco when and if it's located."
GALLERY: Coco Chanel
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