She testified during a deposition last April that "most people should not own a primate. It takes a very special person to own a primate . . . and it should only be the people who are trained and financially can support them and physically support them and know exactly what they're getting into."
Kristy considers herself one of those people.
Jamie Peachey
Kristy Pruett and ex-husband Andrew snuggle with Joey in their Northwest Valley home.
Jamie Peachey
Joey fetches juice from the refrigerator.
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Months before the Game and Fish raid of her home last December, Kristy had contacted the Arizona Center for Disability Law for help.
The center referred her to Julie Carter, its former executive director.
Carter, an attorney who specializes in disability discrimination law, says the situation immediately intrigued her.
She says, "Those unfamiliar with disabilities do not always understand the use of service animals [besides seeing-eye dogs] for other disabilities. This is especially true regarding the service animal needs of those with what I call 'hidden disabilities' — multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, diabetes, deafness, etc."
Carter also made the trek to Surprise to meet Joey, though with some trepidation.
"The state's message is that chimpanzees are killers," she says. "I didn't know much about monkeys at first, so I was a little nervous going out there. Then I spent some time with him, and it was, 'So this guy's a killer?'"
Last September 12, Carter and her law partner, ex-husband Doug Carter, filed a lawsuit on behalf of Kristy in federal court against Arizona Game and Fish.
The suit claims the agency violated Kristy's rights under the ADA, and that she had done everything that Game and Fish employee Jay Cook had asked of her before she imported the chimp.
That included providing verification that Joey had received all his vaccinations, where and when, and that Kristy suffers from a severe form of diabetes.
The lawsuit alleges that state authorities "failed to modify their regulations, policies, or procedures as a reasonable accommodation to plaintiff's disability."
Kristy Pruett has asked the court to allow her to keep Joey until further notice.
She also wants the state of Arizona to establish a written policy allowing for waivers of regulations banning importation of qualified service animals on the restricted wildlife list, including primates.
Financially, Kristy wants the state to reimburse her for the thousands of dollars she's spent on Joey over the past year — including the $25,000 she paid for the chimp.
In answering the lawsuit, the Attorney General's Office said Kristy isn't entitled to special arrangements involving Joey because of potential safety and financial liability issues.
And the state contends that even if she were deserving of a service animal, Joey the chimp still is "restricted live wildlife" and is here illegally.
Game and Fish upped the ante last December when its agents filed criminal misdemeanor charges against Kristy Pruett for illegally harboring Joey. The changes came three months after Kristy sued the state agency, the timing of which does not escape her criminal attorney.
"This is a very strange case," says her Tempe lawyer, Ray Schumacher. "Game and Fish told my client what she had to do to get her service chimp into this state legally. She did what they told her to do. So then they put criminal charges on her after she filed her lawsuit against them. Like I say, very strange."
Each of the counts can carry up to six months in jail, though such a sentence would be highly unlikely. Kristy's next court date in the criminal case is scheduled for October.
All these goings-on concerning Joey have come during a critical time nationally for people who own primates.
On June 17, the feds proposed far-reaching new rules designed to give the disabled greater access to places such as courtrooms, theaters, and stadiums.
The news hit page one in the New York Times.
Buried in the story was word that, if the regulations become binding, monkeys will no longer qualify as "service animals," nor will pigs, goats, horses, among other beasts.
The 60-day comment period on the government proposals ended August 18.
What the new rules would mean for Joey is uncertain, though Kristy Pruett's attorney, Julie Carter, says she will argue that "the regulations should not be applied retroactively."
Carter says she's unsure that the new regulations concerning the service animals ever would be implemented.
On the legislative front, the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this summer overwhelmingly passed the Captive Primate Safety Act, which adds monkeys, apes, and other primates to the list of animals that cannot be transported across state lines.
"We don't believe that people should own primates as pets or for any reason," says Adam Roberts, who runs the Washington, D.C. office of Born Free USA, a non-profit that operates a sanctuary southwest of San Antonio. "This is a very good piece of legislation, from where we sit."
Almost everyone who testified before a House committee about the bill supported its passage, including renowned primatologist Jane Goodall.
A Humane Society representative also spoke in favor of the Act, citing the "dangerous behavior, disease threat, and animal welfare concerns" inherent to primates.
Steve Ross, supervisor of behavioral and cognitive research at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo, noted that only six states (not Arizona) have total bans on private ownership of chimps. Ross, who supported the bill, said full enforcement of the bans is difficult because of the "patchwork of laws, regulatory loopholes, and a thriving commercial trade in dangerous exotic animals."