Sued by a MONKEY

To help raise awareness of the endangered crested black macaque’s plight in Indonesia, wildlife photographer David Slater journeyed to the country in 2011 to photograph some of the charismatic monkeys.

During one photo session, a macaque picked up David’s camera and snapped a series of smiling selfies.

From the beginning, David explained the shots weren’t just a happy accident and he’d gone to lengths to encourage the monkeys to interact with his photography equipment.

The photos quickly went viral, but in 2014 several websites claimed they didn’t have to ask David’s permission or pay him to display the photos because he didn’t own them – the monkey did.

The US Copyright Office disagreed, confirming animals couldn’t own copyrights.

That didn’t stop the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) from lodging a lawsuit on behalf of the monkey – who they said was a six-yearold male named Naruto – suing

David for ownership of the photos.

‘It wasn’t serendipitous monkey behaviour,’ David told the Guardian. ‘It required a lot of knowledge on my behalf, and a lot of perseverance, sweat and anguish.’

A judge dismissed the case, but PETA appealed.

Meanwhile, David argued that PETA was representing the wrong monkey.

‘I know for a fact that the monkey in the photograph is a female. Surely it matters that the right monkey is suing me?’ he said. Finally, in 2017, a financially devastated David reached a settlement with the monkey, agreeing to donate 25 per cent of the money he earns from the photograph to a macaque charity in Indonesia.

‘The picture hopefully contributed to saving the species,’ David said. ‘That was the original intention all along.’

A macaque

used the camera to snap

some selfies