An Ontario judge has ruled Darwin the Ikea monkey
will stay at a primate sanctuary while a court battle is fought to
decide his ownership.

Yasmin Nakhuda is trying to get the monkey back after he escaped
from her car and was found wandering in an Ikea parking lot dressed
in a shearling coat.

Darwin was sent to the Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary in
Sunderland, Ont. after he was picked up by Toronto Animal Services.

Nakhuda had argued she was tricked into signing over Darwin to
animal services and that a long separation during a trial over his
custody will damage her bond with the little primate.

The primate sanctuary said Nakhuda is unfit to care for him,
raising unproven allegations that she “strangled” the monkey, and
didn’t change his diapers for several days.

Its lawyer also argued that a wild animal is no longer the
property of a human if it escapes and returns to the wild, as Darwin
did at Ikea.