Monkey Impounded After Biting Woman Outside Beaumont Restaurant
CHERRY VALLEY (CBSLA.com) — A woman's monkey has been impounded after the primate bit someone at a Beaumont pizza restaurant Sunday, animal control officials said.
Riverside County Animal Services spokesman John Welsh said a 35-year-old Cherry Valley woman was treated at a hospital for a laceration on her forearm after the capuchin monkey reportedly attacked her outside Antonious Pizza on Beaumont Avenue about 3:30 p.m. Sunday.
The pet was surrendered Tuesday by its owner, Wendelin Ringel, to Animal Services and California Department of Fish and Wildlife officers in Cherry Valley.
"A six-month quarantine period will be observed to make sure the monkey is not carrying the rabies virus," Welsh said in a media release, adding that two other monkeys, a capuchin a tamarin, were also surrendered to the agencies because Ringel did not have the appropriate permits to own them.
Surveillance video obtained by CBS2/KCAL9 shows three monkeys clinging to a woman outside the eatery before one of the animals darts into the parking lot.
Another woman, Tricia Moreno, is seen retrieving the monkey and returning it to its owner.
Her daughter remembers hearing the monkey scream.
"He just grabbed her and went [chomp] like you would if you saw a really good burrito," she told KCAL9's Crystal Cruz.
"It felt like a razor. Like a real fast poke," Moreno added.
A restaurant employee was just a few feet from the women and the monkey when the incident unfolded.
"I helped the lady who got bit and tried to clean it up the best I could and put some spray and a Band-Aid on it," John Howe said.
Moreno said she believes the monkey was likely trying to protect its owner. She got a tetanus shot just in case.
Ringel will meanwhile be required to pay for the quarantine, which Riverside County Chief Veterinarian Allan Drusys described as a "standard precaution."
"It's probably unlikely the monkey has rabies, but the monkey must be quarantined in the interest of public health," he said.
