Monkey See, Monkey Do, Monkey Sue

In any case, when Scott's husband arrived with the monkey, she saw, among the papers Parrott had provided, information that the monkey had tested positive for the hepatitis A virus (also common in macaques and dangerous to humans). Parrott's clinic was closed by then, Scott says, so she called Matthew Block for advice on handling the animal. Later she took the monkey to Block's facility, she says, after he offered to run another blood test. When Block examined the monkey, he found an ID-tag hole in its right ear, and when he scanned it, he discovered a microchip identifying the macaque as one of the 33 females stolen from him in July of last year.

Both Reynolds and Parrott insist they saw no hole in the monkey's ear and felt no microchip under its skin.

The macaque remains with Scott while Game and Fresh Water Fish investigates. Mitchell Kalmanson, Block's insurance broker, thinks the commission is dragging its feet. "We've caught [Dr. Parrott] with a smoking gun -- selling a stolen animal," fumes Kalmanson. "We're out a lot of money, he's out a lot of money, and our question is: Why did the damn Florida Game and Fish Commission not even say where our monkey was?