State Euthanized Brodi the Spyder Monkey! On Tuesday January 14th, 2014 at a car dealership in Northeastern Ohio, Brodi the Spider Monkey was sitting inside of a car with his owner. An employee of the dealership approached the vehicle and reached inside to pet Brodi. Understandably, this frightened Brodi. Out of fear Brodi nipped the man leaving a pin-sized puncture on his thumb. The bite was very minor and did not require stitches. Later that evening Brodi was placed under quarantine near Columbus, Ohio for what was supposed to be one month. He had a current rabies vaccine on file so a simple quarantine protocol was all that was necessary. Brodi had a follow up vet appointment scheduled for February 15th. On January 17th, 2014 at 8:00 pm Brodi was seized out of quarantine by the Erie County Health Commissioner, Peter Schade, and taken to the Erie County Health Department. The co-owner was told that an appeal could be filed and other methods would be considered including a promised phone call to a veterinarian who knew of a simple blood test that would save Brodi’s life. This call was to be made the following morning. Instead, they decided to test his brain for rabies and Brodi was executed at midnight before an appeal could be filed. Brodi lost his life on January 18th, 2014. This was an unjustified killing as he was up-to-date on his rabies vaccine and had no previous bites on record. According to the Virginia Department of Health there has only ever been one case of a monkey in a captive setting testing positive for rabies in the United States which was in 1911, over 100 years ago. Rabies is proven fatal in all monkeys and death will occur within 20 days of contraction. A one month rabies quarantine would have been more than sufficient in determining whether Brodi had rabies or not. An alternative method, although not currently used in Ohio, is a simple blood test called the Simian Rabies Antigen Panel which is used to humanely test for rabies while sparing the innocent and precious life of the primate. All animals, whether it be a dog, cat, etc... are protective in nature. Brodi was being just that, protective. The employee was barely harmed and was laughing when the incident took place which shows that Brodi was not intentionally trying to harm him. Brodi meant the world to his owners and was like a child to them. He was a friend to everyone, even children, and never showed any signs of aggression. He died at the young age of 2 1/2 years old when his life expectancy was 40+ years. On January 18th, 2014 Brodi’s rabies test came back negative.
Posted on: Sun, 19 Jan 2014 23:20:42 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015