Was Thabo the monkey STOLEN? Vervet that's amassed a huge TikTok following with ... trends now
Biologists have said that a TikTok viral monkey may have been stolen from a colony in Florida despite its owner's claims that he rescued the baby vervet from a lab.
TikToker Kim Raymond Feaste, 31, has garnered over 3.4 million followers on the account he shares with his pet monkey 'Thabo'.
On the account, called Thabo and Ray, Feaste uploads videos of his five-year-old vervet monkey on the loose, going to Walmart and eating chicken wings.
Feaste claims to have rescued his TikTok co-star from a lab in Las Vegas, where the monkey's mother was allegedly killed.
However, expert biologists who are skeptical of Feaste's claims say that this is not likely.
TikToker Kim Raymond Feaste, 31, has garnered over 3.4 million followers on the account he shares with his pet monkey 'Thabo'
On the account, called Thabo and Ray, Feaste uploads videos of his five-year-old vervet monkey on the loose, going to Walmart and eating chicken wings
Feaste claims to have rescued his TikTok co-star from a lab in Las Vegas, where the monkey's mother was allegedly killed
'Labs do not give away monkeys,' Dr. Deborah 'Missy' Williams, an adjunct professor at Florida Atlantic University who has overseen the Dania Beach monkey colony since 2014, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. 'They euthanize them,' she added.
Williams is accusing Feaste of taking the vervet from the Dania Beach monkey colony near the Fort Lauderdale airport five years ago.
The biologist has sent complaints to police throughout the country and emails to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission stating her claims.
Besides videos that Feaste, who is originally from Tampa, has taken at the colony and her own suspicions, Williams does not have any concrete evidence to prove her theory.
Feaste insists that Thabo did not come from Fort Lauderdale, and his critics have no evidence to prove that he did.
When asked for evidence proving that the monkey is from a lab, Feaste said, 'there is no such paperwork needed or required by any governmental agency that possessing Thabo would have fallen under. If there was, I would have it.'
Feaste says that even if Thabo did come from the colony in Fort Lauderdale - taking the monkey wouldn't be illegal because vervet monkeys are not protected. He also claims to have the permit necessary to snag the animal.
Expert biologists who are skeptical of Feaste's claims say that it is not likely that he rescued the monkey from a lab in Las Vegas
