Woman banned from owning animals for life after feeding pet monkey kebabs and offering it cocaine
WARNING: CONTAINS DISTRESSING CONTENT ABOUT ANIMAL ABUSE
A woman has been banned from owning animals for life after feeding her pet monkey kebabs and offering it cocaine, with distressing footage also showing the poor marmoset being flushed down the toilet.
Mother-of-four Vicki Holland, 39, was filmed subjecting 'deliberate infliction’ on her pet monkey Milly, who has now been rehomed at a specialist facility.
Footage showed Holland offering Milly cocaine, holding the drug in her hand while asking: “Want some coke... lick my fingers?”
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She was also seen feeding Milly kebabs, sausages and burgers, and encouraging a dog to chase the terrified marmoset.
In another, Holland laughed as she tried to flush the monkey down the toilet as she clung to the rim, saying: “Come out... I wanna pee.”
The videos were found by police on Holland’s phone following a drugs bust at her home in Newport, Gwent.
After Holland was sentenced for drug offences, Milly has found a new home at Monkey World in Dorset.
Her former owner has now been banned from keeping all animals for life after pleading guilty to three Animal Welfare Act offences in December last year.
RSPCA inspector and exotics officer Sophie Daniels, who rescued Milly, said: “This was a very disturbing case but I am pleased to see Milly is doing well in a fantastic environment with her boyfriend Moon by her side."
The charity is sharing Milly’s ordeal as part of its’ Cancel Out Cruelty campaign, saying: "Milly was struggling to settle at first and staff at the centre were worried about the effects the abuse had on her as she was terrified of people. She would hide at the back of the enclosure and make an alarm call whenever anyone walked past.
"They slowly had to build up her confidence and provided her with a fellow marmoset mate called Moon who was rescued from the pet trade.
"Moon was quick to respond to Milly’s alarm calls and would stand by her side to reassure her - which has helped her learn to trust again.
"Now the pair are inseparable and love spending time in their large enclosure hunting insects and enjoying each other's company."
Daniels added: "This is why our Cancel Out Cruelty campaign is so important - so we can continue to help rescue desperate animals like Milly.”
Newport Magistrates Court heard last year how Holland provided no UVB lighting for Milly - whose cage was ‘devoid of decor needed for environmental enrichment’ - and that she fed her ‘inappropriate food’ including processed ham, with prosecutor Aled Watkins noting that marmosets have a ‘very particular set of needs’.
Holland’s phone had 22 ‘very disturbing’ videos involving the marmoset, including one that Watkins said showed Milly in a ‘very distressed state’, cowering inside a toilet bowl.
Watkins said Holland had ;shown total disregard to the basic care and needs’ of her pet, telling magistrates: "This is deliberate infliction, this isn't neglect.”
Scott Bowen, defending, said Holland was ‘deeply embarrassed and deeply ashamed of her behaviour’, adding: "In hindsight, Ms Holland fully accepts she shouldn't have had the animal in the first place."
Bowen said Milly had experienced ‘distress’, but that there was ‘no long-term damage’ to the animal.
However, the court heard how the marmoset was ‘terrified as a result of her aggression and abuse whilst it was within a toilet bowl’.
Milly’s abuse was uncovered when Holland and her partner Russell Cox were found to have cocaine hidden in a stash of Kinder Eggs at their home, with police finding drug paraphernalia and chocolate eggs containing £1,600 worth of cocaine.
A Proceeds of Crime hearing was told the couple made almost £40,000 from their cocaine business.
Holland and Cox, 44, both admitted possession with intent to supply a class-A drug at Newport Crown Court.
Cox, from Cwmbran, was jailed for 30 months, while Holland was jailed for 20 months, suspended for two years, in November 2020.
Jess Hardiman