Court refuses custody of paralysed infant monkey to saviour vet

The Madras High Court refused last week to grant custody of a partially paralysed infant monkey to a Coimbatore veterinarian who had found it in a critical condition and cared for it for over 10 months, the Indo-Asian News Service reported. The case is a study of how the “rules” and the bureaucracy ensure that nothing, not even the welfare of an individual, an animal in this case, stand in their way.

Rejecting the petition by veterinarian V. Vallaiappan, a single bench of Justice C.V. Karthikeyan ruled that the monkey was “government property” and so cannot be “owned” by the petitioner. Interestingly, the petitioner had not sought ownership of the animal but only its custody till it recovered fully and could function on its own.

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According to Dr Vallaiappan’s petition, he had found the baby at a dog sterilization camp in Sholingur in Ranipet district. It had multiple dog bites and was paralyzed below the waist. The veterinarian said he took care of the infant, providing nutrition and medical treatment, from December 4 till October 26, when officials from the Forest Department seized it and moved it to the Arignar Anna Zoological Park in Madras, over 500 km away.

Although the monkey has recovered from its wounds, it remains unable to function independently, the veterinarian said, adding that the Forest Department had removed the animal from his care without regard to its welfare. He promised that if granted custody of the monkey, he would furnish regular updates on its health and allow inspections by officials.

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At a hearing on November 6, Justice Karthikeyan had permitted Dr Vallaiappan to visit the monkey at the zoo. The judge said he wanted to find out if the monkey would recognize Dr Vallaiappan after two weeks of separation. He also directed Special Government Pleader T. Srinivasan to submit the relevant rules regarding interim custody of animals by individual caretakers, and added that cases involving human-animal bonds should be handled with sensitivity.

Accompanied by his daughter and his advocate R. Sankarasubbu, Dr Vallaiappan visited the monkey at the zoo on November 9. Later, speaking to the media, he said that though the monkey appeared excited to see and hear him, the zoo authorities did not permit them to get within touching distance.

Despite the judge’s positive attitude and open-mindedness, what may have ruined the chances of the veterinarian and the paralysed infant monkey was the fact that the court assigned the task of observing their interaction and submitting a report on it to the court to the Forest Department, an interested party in the case. For that, you can probably thank the ‘rules’.