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# John Kelso Santa Monica Animal control isn’t up to snuff
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/john-kelso-santa-monica-animal-control-isnt-up-to-snuff-editor/
- Published: 2007-09-05T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T02:46:39.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Promenade, #archive-import

*By Alan Toy Santa Monica*

The article on animals at the Promenade “passing muster” was ironically amusing to me (There’s No Monkey Business – Sept. 3, 2007). In particular, it mentions that the City could be liable if the “performing” – I use that term cynically since all it does really is grab money out of peoples’ hands - capuchin monkey ever attacked anyone.

Well a couple of years ago, I and a moderately sized crowd of spectators witnessed exactly that. The monkey bit a child who wasn’t letting go of his proffered coin fast enough, causing the boy to cry in shock and pain. I don’t know how much injury occurred, but I saw that the skin on his hand was broken. I immediately reported the incident to the police on duty at the SMPD sub-station less than fifty feet away. (Remember when there actually was a place at the Promenade where you could readily find an officer?) I didn’t stick around to see what the officer’s response was, but I figure if a performing animal attacks a child, no matter how mildly, it is cause for serious community concern if that same animal and its owner are allowed back on the Promenade without limitations and protections for the public who may come into contact with them. Evidently though, a more freewheeling approach passes muster with the Animal Control authorities in Santa Monica.

I guess these are the same people who refused my requests a year or so ago to come over to 12th and Brentwood Terrace to remove a starving, sick coyote that was lying in the street. That poor (and no doubt dangerous) animal evidently passed muster with Animal Control too.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 5, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/090507.pdf?ref=smdp.com)