VAN BUREN, Maine — A local woman accused of illegally possessing four therapy monkeys was charged Thursday, according to the Maine Wardens Service.
Sheila Soucy, 44, is facing four counts of violating a state importation permit and four counts of unlawful possession of wild animals, the warden service said in a prepared statement released Thursday afternoon.
According to the statement, Soucy was issued a permit in April 2015 to possess one marmoset monkey for therapy purposes. Officials learned Soucy allegedly had violated her importation by acquiring five monkeys from a Florida breeder between September 2014 and September 2015.
Three marmoset monkeys and one tamarin monkey were seized Thursday, the warden service said. Therapy marmoset monkeys have a retail value of about $3,000 apiece, according to the release.
When reached by phone at her home Thursday evening, Soucy declined to comment.
“The illegal importation of exotic wildlife can threaten the health of native species, and it can also become a public safety issue,” Judy Camuso, wildlife division director for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, said in the release. “We keep a close eye on what is imported into the state since Maine’s native wildlife is so important to so many people.”
Inland Fisheries and Wildlife biologists are expected to keep the monkeys in Maine for a short period before returning them to Florida, officials said. Game wardens were assisted by IF&W biologists and the Van Buren Police Department.
IF&W maintains a list on its website of species of fish and wildlife that don’t require a permit to be imported into Maine. Monkeys, which are not native to North America, are not on the list and therefore require a permit to import and possess.
It is unusual, but not unheard of, for concerns about the importation of exotic animals to Maine to draw public attention.
In 2012, the department allowed an Island Falls couple to keep a wallaby, with conditions, after they had unknowingly violated state law by importing one from New Jersey.
In 2003, IF&W denied a permit to a New Jersey woman who had sought approval to relocate 24 tigers from New Jersey to Steuben. Roland Martin, then the commissioner of the department, cited the woman’s tiger-related legal troubles in New Jersey in denying the request.
