‘It was very traumatizing’: Loose pet monkey attacks woman in Dickson

FOX 25 News, Oklahoma

by: Sara Smith

March 13, 2023

Dickson police say the 911 call was one of the most unusual calls they have ever received. (Brittany Parker)

Dickson, Okla. (KOKH) — A Carter County woman says she was attacked and injured by a neighbor’s pet monkey while in her own front yard Sunday afternoon.

Dickson police say the 911 call was one of the most unusual calls they have ever received.

“I was sitting here in this exact spot and I looked out the window and there was a monkey looking at me,” victim Brittany Parker said. “I took a second glance and said ‘Oh my God! There is a monkey on the front porch.'”

Parker says she was stunned.

“The monkey was trying to get into my house,” Parker said. “The little button that you push in on the screen door, he broke it off. I was literally hanging onto my door trying to hold it closed.”

Parker says she called police and went outside when officers got there.

That is when she was attacked.

“He jumped up on my back and landed on my head,” Parker said. “He started grabbing handfuls of hair and just ripped it out. He ripped my ear almost completely off of my head.”

Police say the monkey ran off after the attack.

“As we were looking for the primate, two shots were fired,” Dickson police chief Tim Duncan said. “The shots came from the area of the victim’s residence. Officers went back to the house and found that a family member of the victim shot and killed the primate.”

Parker and police say they didn’t know someone had a pet monkey in city limits.

Friends of the monkey say his name was Jack.

“It was all very scary,” Parker said. “It was very traumatizing.”

Parker says because of her injury, she can’t work.

She says she will also need plastic surgery to fix her ear.

Parker says she also worries about her family’s safety.

“My son loves to play outside,” Parker said. “Do I let my child go outside and play? Do I worry every time we step outside if we are going to be attacked by something? It is very traumatizing. It is very scary.”

Police say having the monkey is not illegal.

The owner’s name hasn’t been released.

Investigators say they will turn the case over to the district attorney.