Read the most recent reports across Florida involving unusual crimes, animal attacks or bizarre instances that made headlines across the Sunshine State.

Pet Monkey Bites Boy at Carrabba’s Restaurant in Stuart, FL

*Pixabay image

An informal weekly event known as “Monkey Mondays” at Carrabba’s Italian Grill in Stuart was cancelled after an 8-year old boy was bitten by one of two pet monkeys brought by a local couple.

According to the Miami Herald, the couple started the exotic pet-friendly tradition when they brought their two pet monkeys to eat outside on Carraba’s patio. Eventually, the wait staff started calling the patron’s weekly routine as “Monkey Mondays,”

However, those days are over after a 9-month-old Capuchin named JoJo bit an 8-year-old boy on the finger.

On July 16, the Herald states, JoJo the monkey’s owners warned an 8-year-old boy and his father who were dining on the patio that the monkey was “being hyper.” The boy then pet the monkey, who was seated in a high-chair at the table. When the boy returned to pet JoJo again later in the meal, the monkey bit the boy on his pinkie finger.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission investigated the monkey owners’ home, which they found to be a “safe and adequate environment” for the five monkeys the couple owns. But the FWC did cite the owners for not having JoJo’s rabies shots up to date; the owners say their veterinarian mistakenly told them the rabies vaccine wasn’t required. They have since updated his rabies vaccine, the Herald reports.

As for those Monkey Mondays, Carrabba’s manager Ramona Cook told the Herald that they are now cancelled, and henceforth the restaurant patio will only allow “recognized service dogs and ponies.”