Here’s the latest on the fate of the primate who’s become known around the world as the IKEA monkey.  Yasmin Nakhuda of Toronto is going to court in Oshawa today to try and get him back.  “Hopefully based on the law, the judge will decide that Darwin should be returned to his rightful owner.”

Darwin was found walking around the parking lot at the Toronto Ikea on December 9th.  Ikea security called Toronto Animal Services to pick up the monkey.  A spokesperson for Animal Services says a woman who claimed to be Darwin’s owner came to the shelter and surrendered him to the city.  She was also fined for having a prohibited pet.  Darwin was then placed at the Storybook Farm Primate Sanctuary in Sunderland, Ontario.  Nakhuda alleges he was taken from her illegally.  “I’ve spoken to a number of people in the legal community and they do agree there’s no statute allowing the city to take an animal away based on these circumstances where we were.”  Nakhuda says if she’s able to get Darwin back, she and her family plan to move two hours east to Kawartha Lakes, where there is no ban on keeping monkeys.