Justin Bieber looking at a big bill for leaving monkey in Germany - Los Angeles Times
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Justin Bieber looking at a big bill for leaving monkey in Germany

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Justin Bieber may have left Mally the monkey behind in Germany, but the bill for Mally’s care looks to be following him back to the States.

Bieber will owe several thousand euros for food, care and vet visits over the two months since the capuchin monkey was seized March 28, an official said Friday. The singer flew into the country on a private jet without the proper paperwork to get the critter, now 20 weeks old, through customs.

“You can bet we are going to ask for that money back,” customs spokesman Thomas Meister told the Associated Press.

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The animal was reportedly a 19th-birthday gift to the Biebs from music producer Jamal “Mally Mall” Rashid, who has his own capuchin, named Bubbz.

Bieber had until midnight in Germany to claim the capuchin. Previously, e-mails coming from Bieber’s camp but not from the singer himself reportedly said that he didn’t want the monkey anymore and asked that it be placed in a zoo.

The shelter caring for Mally told E! News that a rescue facility or an organization specifically for primates would be more appropriate, because a zoo might publicize the animal. Shelter manager Karl Heinz Joachim told the Associated Press that while Mally had done well and gained weight, he shouldn’t have been taken from his mother until he was a year old, and needed to socialize in a group of capuchins.

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“If no further documents arrive then the seizure order comes into effect and the animal becomes the property of the German state,” Meister said. Mally’s fate likely won’t be known until Tuesday, because it’s a three-day holiday weekend in Germany.

Bieber, meanwhile, was kicking back in the wake of this leg of his “Believe” world tour, which wrapped on Sunday in Johannesburg, South Africa.

“glad to chill for a few days,” he said Monday on Twitter. “gonna take it easy. that was an amazing tour. thanks to all the fans around the world. #grateful to all of u.”

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