FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A Fort Lauderdale man has been cited for parading around an unlicensed lemur that bit a woman last month on the beach.
Alberto Marrero, 53, received seven second-degree misdemeanor citations stemming from the Feb. 24 incident on Fort Lauderdale Beach next to the Elbo Room.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Yolanda Jacobs and some friends were walking on the beach when she saw a man with a lemur on his shoulder taking pictures with people.
Jacobs said one of her friends paid the man, later identified as Marrero, so she could take a picture with the ring-tailed lemur on her shoulder.
When it came time for Jacobs to take her picture with the lemur, she extended her hand to steady the lemur on her shoulder and the primate bit her, breaking the skin.
Although Marrero told Jacobs the lemur was up to date on its rabies shots, he later admitted to a state wildlife officer that the lemur had never been vaccinated.
According to the FWC report, Marrero didn't have a license to exhibit the animal and was keeping it in an unapproved cage in his apartment.
Among the charges for which Marrero was cited were keeping the lemur at an unapproved facility, exhibiting the lemur without the required permit, maintaining the lemur in a manner resulting in a threat to public safety and not having a proper enclosure.