A wealthy childless couple in Raw Bareli is planning to bequeath their property and savings to their pet monkey, ‘Chunmun’, they had adopted 10 years ago.
“People might say we are crazy, let them say so...,” the couple said. The monkey had lost its mother due to a bad fall and was adopted by the couple. Now they have decided to leave their house, a 200-yard plot of land and all their savings to the monkey, “whom we consider as our son”, said Sabista Brijesh.
Brijesh Srivastava and his wife Sabista have no children, but they treat their pet monkey as their own son and have set up a trust to ensure the animal is looked after if it outlives them. Monkeys can live for 35 to 40 years.
The trust will use the money to feed monkeys that are forced to leave their natural habitats because of deforestation and wander into human settlements. “We are childless and Chunmun is a son to us. We want to ensure that even when we are not alive Chunmun’s life is not affected and he continues to live the way he does,” the couple said. The monkey likes to eat Chinese food and also drinks tea and mango juice, according to Sabista.
They say the monkey has brought them fortune. When they adopted the primate in 2004, they were poor. Now they are prosperous, owning a house, the couple claim.
Sabista (45) is an advocate and her 48-year-old husband owns several businesses all named after Chunmun.
