[Dwayne Shrader]

I agree. Water and feeding doesn’t fall under the ‘stupid’ category, but growing up and living in middle of farm country to me they are givens. It is a sin to deprive an animal of either.

Yes I over simplified the human factor thing, but in my experience it’s still easier to work with people.

I wasn’t going to get into the whole face eating chimp thing. But yes, they are wild animals and at times unpredictable.

[Dwayne Shrader]

Oh! That adventure will be the title of my memoirs. The sarcastic side of me would say go to Washington and hang around Congress and you will find any number of monkeys willing to be on camera for free. Seriously though, as Nick said you’re entering a world of hassle.

First of all you will have to treat the monkey better than any human actor you would hire. Humans are easy. Buy them lunch, show them where the bathroom is and send them home at the end of the day with a little money in their pockets. Done!

You need to find a monkey or chimp that can perform or be trained to perform the task that you require. Sounds like the Chicago primate will work. Make sure the price they quote you includes training if necessary. Anything beyond the simplest of tasks may require some amount of special training. The task our client wanted performed was basically pounding a piece of rubber into a channel. The handler estimated it would take a week to train the chip to do that. Training was billed at a half day rate.

Be prepared to pay transportation and travel expenses. That’s expected and I’m sure you figured on that. Also keep in mind that you will most likely be paying a day rate for the monkey(s) and the handler.

The involvement of the Humane Society (HS) can be influenced by state or locality. The jurisdiction for our project was Atlanta, GA. At that time the HS required notarized records of the handlers certifications, I remember one was a USDA “C-class” Cert, and the animals health records and certificates of vaccination. And then it got stupid… I needed to provide a feeding schedule, a potty break schedule (to and from), a map that showed the route to and from the “relief area”, proof of water supply and feeding area. Some of this may have been influenced by the venue.

We were not required to have HS on site, but they were to make a prevent inspection of the facility and unannounced inspections during the event.

Oh, and then there was the biggie… insurance. You may be required additional insurance on top of what you already carry.

It might be easier to rent a Congressman and a monkey suit.