Monkey meat at center of NYC court case

[CatWoman]

NEW YORK - From her baptism in Liberia to Christmas years later in her adopted New York City, Mamie Manneh never lost the longing to celebrate religious rituals by eating monkey meat.

Now, the tribal customs of Manneh and other West African immigrants have become the focus of an unusual criminal case charging her with meat smuggling, and touching on issues of religious freedom, infectious diseases and wildlife preservation.

The case "appears to be the first of its kind relating to that uniquely African product," defense attorney Jan Rostal wrote in a pending motion to dismiss. "Unfortunately, it represents the sort of clash of cultural and religious values inherent in the melting pot that is America."

At the center of the case in federal court is a modest woman with nine children and a history of domestic discord.

The case dates to early 2006, when federal inspectors at JFK Airport examined a shipment of 12 cardboard boxes from Guinea.

They were addressed to Manneh and, according to a flight manifest, contained African dresses and smoked fish with a value of $780.

Instead, stashed underneath the smoked fish, the inspectors found what West Africans refer to as bushmeat: "skulls, limbs and torsos of non-human primate species" plus the hoof and leg of a small antelope, according to court papers.

Three days later, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents were at Manneh's door, where she told them she ran a smoked fish importing business.

According to the agents, she initially denied ordering any bushmeat from Africa or ever eating it while in the United States.

But after she consented to a search, the agents came across a tiny, hairy arm hidden in her garage.

"Monkey," she explained, claiming the arm was sent to her out of the blue "as a gift from God in heaven."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071124/ap_on_re_us/monkey_meat

[sakabatou]

1. Did they have itty-bitty birdy feet?

:spank:

[Maq]

2. Bush the Chimp being eaten

Is her name Monica too.

Impeach the buggerist George dubai Bush.

[MADem]

3. I don't go for eating monkey OR dog. But that's me. nt

[laststeamtrain]

4. I swear it was the greasy, grimy gopher guts that did it...

...& I forgot my spoon.

[Crabby Appleton]

9. Great green globs

[Bitwit1234]

5. I thought they traced HIV virus to monkey meat.

[zabet]

6. From the article....

"More ominously, the complaint warned of "the potential health risks to humans linking bushmeat to diseases like Lassa fever, Ebola, HIV, SARS and monkeypox."

[TorchTheWitch]

10. After just finishing reading The Hot Zone this made my hair stand up

It's about HIV, Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan, Ebola Reston, and Marberg... and how it got to the human population through monkeys. Very detailed descriptions on what the Ebola and Marburg viruses do to a person before they mercifully die that freaked me out to no end.

VERY scary.

[panader0]

7. I thought it was from meating monkeys

[Warpy]

8. They think the species jump happened during the butchery

of bush meat from a variety of green monkey with a close version of SIV.

I used to see bush meat of all types frozen at Safeway International in Washington DC.

Perhaps she can order from them rather than importing pets and illegaly slaughtering them.