Baby pet casualty of Bieber oversight
Berlin – The rock’n’roll lifestyle didn’t last long for Mally the monkey.
One day, the 14-week-old capuchin was on a private jet fooling around while perched on the head of 19-year-old pop star Justin Bieber, the next he was stuck in quarantine after being seized by customs officers at Munich airport.
Like a furry TV set carelessly tossed out of a hotel window, Mally became another casualty of pop life on the road.
No-one in the Bieber entourage had thought to secure a health certificate for the monkey, which German officials demanded on its arrival in the singer’s private plane from Los Angeles.
Tracked down to an animal centre in the city by newspaper Bild, the baby capuchin was found clinging to a new companion – a toy cat. He refuses to eat without it.
Nobody has been in touch to reclaim Mally four days after the Bieber juggernaut moved on to Austria.
‘‘The monkey is cheerful and is eating well, and has its replacement mummy with it all the time,’’ said Karl-Heinz Joachim, director of the animal centre.
‘‘It always has to sit on the stuffed toy and hold on to it. It does not like milk, it gets baby food and fruit.
‘‘When I offer a piece of apple, it takes it straight away and looks pleased.’’
The centre will look after the monkey until he is reclaimed, either by Bieber or customs authorities.
Bild thoughtfully brought along a poster of the young heartthrob to cheer up Mally but he seemed to prefer the stuffed toy cat.
The Munich customs office said the singer had four weeks to retrieve Mally.