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NEW YORK — From her baptism in Liberia to Christmas years later in her adopted New York City, Mamie Manneh never lost the longing to celebrate religious rituals by eating monkey meat.
Now, the tribal customs of Manneh and other West African immigrants have become the focus of an unusual criminal case charging her with meat smuggling, and touching on issues of religious freedom, infectious diseases and wildlife preservation.
The case "appears to be the first of its kind relating to that uniquely African product," defense attorney Jan Rostal wrote in a pending motion to dismiss. "Unfortunately, it represents the sort of clash of cultural and religious values inherent in the melting pot that is America."
At the center of the case in federal court is a modest woman with nine children and a history of domestic discord.
The case dates to early 2006, when federal inspectors at JFK Airport examined a shipment of 12 cardboard boxes from Guinea.
They were addressed to Manneh and, according to a flight manifest, contained African dresses and smoked fish with a value of $780.
Instead, stashed underneath the smoked fish, the inspectors found what West Africans refer to as bushmeat: "skulls, limbs and torsos of non-human primate species" plus the hoof and leg of a small antelope, according to court papers.
Three days later, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents were at Manneh's door, where she told them she ran a smoked fish importing business.
According to the agents, she initially denied ordering any bushmeat from Africa or ever eating it while in the United States.
But after she consented to a search, the agents came across a tiny, hairy arm hidden in her garage.
"Monkey," she explained, claiming the arm was sent to her out of the blue "as a gift from God in heaven."
Federal prosecutors hit Manneh with smuggling charges that accused her of violating import procedures and suggested she was a menace to man and beast alike.
A criminal complaint cited evidence that the illegal importation of bushmeat encourages the slaughter of protected wild animals.
More ominously, the complaint warned of "the potential health risks to humans linking bushmeat to diseases like Lassa fever, Ebola, HIV, SARS and monkeypox."
Defense attorney Rostal has countered by accusing the government of picking on a poorly educated immigrant.
Her client's only offense, she said, was her inability to grasp Western attitudes and highly technical regulations regarding bushmeat.
Defense papers also argue that the U.S. demand for the meat involved in the Manneh case — from Africa's green monkey population — is "too small to have any significance for conservation."
Manneh, 39, testified last year that before arriving in the United States more than 25 years ago, monkey meat was critical to her religious upbringing.
At age 7, "I was baptized and they used that for the baptizing ceremony," she told a judge.
Manneh is already serving a two-year sentence in state prison for trying to run over a woman she suspected of sleeping with her husband, Zangar Jefferson. If convicted of the federal charges she faces up to five more years in prison and deportation.
"The government's taking a woman away from her children," complained Jefferson, who's struggling to raise the children alone. "It's very depressing, especially with the holidays right around the corner."
The prosecution also has dampened spirits at the church in Staten Island where Manneh and other African immigrants once packed the pews to practice a religion blending Christianity and tribal customs.
One of the few worshippers left, Leona Artis, says the congregation's appetite for monkey meat is deeply misunderstood.
Take Thanksgiving.
"Where some people have turkey, we'll have monkey meat," Artis said. "I've been eating it all my life. It's delicious."
Baptisms, Easter, Christmas, weddings — all are occasions for eating monkey, Manneh's supporters said in a sworn statement filed with the court.
The statement was vague about how the meat is obtained, but explains that it always arrives dried and smoked. Once blessed by a pastor, "we usually prepare it by cooking it for several hours into a stew," they said.
For them, the exotic import is more than just food.
"We eat bushmeat," they said, "for our souls."
(This version CORRECTS the husband's first name to Zangar, instead of Zanger.)
© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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{"commentId":1212122,"authorDomain":"wbrianwhite"}
Defense attorney Rostal has countered by accusing the government of picking on a poorly educated immigrant.
That's a counter? My client is too @!$%#ing dumb to know that you can't import dismembered monkeys into the US? Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Throw this person in jail, maximum penalty.
{"commentId":1212122,"threadId":"180478","contentId":"1119070","authorDomain":"wbrianwhite"}
- 7 votes
#1 - Sat Nov 24, 2007 3:00 PM EST{"commentId":1212131,"authorDomain":"mscyprah"}
I am trying to imagine how 9 children without their mother at Thanksgiving time show up America in its best humane and caring light. She did do something very bad, but I am sure weekend detention etc., would have been more appropriate in this case while keeping her family together.
{"commentId":1212131,"threadId":"180478","contentId":"1119070","authorDomain":"mscyprah"}
- 2 votes
#2 - Sat Nov 24, 2007 3:04 PM EST{"commentId":1212734,"authorDomain":"DanLS"}
She's currently in jail for trying to run over another woman with her car, which is still assault with a deadly weapon and attempted murder. You can't let someone like that back onto the streets just because the holidays are right around the corner. Besides, her children are probably living with their father or in the custody of social services... which may be the present for them right now.
{"commentId":1212734,"threadId":"180478","contentId":"1119070","authorDomain":"DanLS"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1212154,"authorDomain":"cartooncat"}
Why does America jail people if they are not a danger to the rest of the population? Surely another form of punishment, such as social service, would be more appropriate here?
{"commentId":1212154,"threadId":"180478","contentId":"1119070","authorDomain":"cartooncat"}
- 7 votes
#3 - Sat Nov 24, 2007 3:11 PM EST{"commentId":1212163,"authorDomain":"wbrianwhite"}
People eating bush meat is the leading theory for where AIDS comes from.
{"commentId":1212163,"threadId":"180478","contentId":"1119070","authorDomain":"wbrianwhite"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1212200,"authorDomain":"Rebecca-Yarowsky"}
People eating bush meat is the leading theory for where AIDS comes from.
Huh? I haven't heard that one, Brian. Can you provide a few links?
{"commentId":1212200,"threadId":"180478","contentId":"1119070","authorDomain":"Rebecca-Yarowsky"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":1212210,"authorDomain":"wbrianwhite"}
Bush-meat trade breeds new HIV
The HIV virus has jumped from primates to people on at least seven separate occasions in recent history, not twice as is commonly thought.
And people in Cameroon are showing up with symptoms of HIV, but are testing negative for both the virus and its primate equivalent SIV, the virus from which HIV is thought to have evolved. That suggests that new strains of an HIV-like virus are circulating in wild animals and infecting people who eat them, sparking fears that such strains could fuel an already disastrous global HIV pandemic.
The bushmeat trade is becoming a human-health concern too. Studies of AIDS viruses have suggested that the current pandemic can be traced back to as many as eight independent transmissions of a virus from African monkeys and apes to people.
Monkey Meat Riddled With Simian AIDS (SIV)
More than one-fifth of the monkey meat sold in the markets of Cameroon is infected with HIV's ancestor, SIV, the first thorough survey of bushmeat reveals.1.
The level and variety of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) strains found highlights the risk of new HIV-like viruses entering humans via bushmeat, claim the researchers.
It is generally believed that SIV jumped the species barrier as hunter carried dead SIV-positive monkeys on their backs out of the jungle, and the infected blood fell on scratches or cuts on the backs of the hunters.
{"commentId":1212210,"threadId":"180478","contentId":"1119070","authorDomain":"wbrianwhite"}
- 12 votes
{"commentId":1212372,"authorDomain":"Accelerando"}
It's also important to take this into account:
Manneh is already serving a two-year sentence in state prison for trying to run over a woman she suspected of sleeping with her husband, Zanger Jefferson.
So, at least in this sense, she might be considered to be "a danger to the population". However, an extra five years for this particular crime is ridiculous: she's already doing time, why add insult to injury?
Also, it's diseases such as monkeypox and others, such as Brian White referenses ("the risk of new HIV-like viruses entering humans via bushmeat, claim the researchers.") those entirely foreign to the United States, that are the main issue. While the possibility is slim, it has been entirely banned to prevent any further inter-species leaps of viruses.
The best option here is to let her serve her current sentence, and hereby inform the congregation that any further illegal importation of monkey meat without consulting federal guidelines will result in consequences. Unfortunately, unlike chickens and cows, monkey meat is not federally regulated, and the group's religious consumption of the meat will have to be put in check.
If there is anything more the government could feasibly do, please suggest it: this case has perked my "theoretical best course of action" senses!
{"commentId":1212372,"threadId":"180478","contentId":"1119070","authorDomain":"Accelerando"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":1212448,"authorDomain":"behindmyscreen"}
would proper cooking of Bush meet not kill any SIV found?
{"commentId":1212448,"threadId":"180478","contentId":"1119070","authorDomain":"behindmyscreen"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":1212651,"authorDomain":"Accelerando"}
Good question.
Okay, so I've finally managed to take the time to do a little research of my own. Please note that I'm no microbiologist, let alone an epidemiologist, so sorry in advance if there's any inaccuracies!
So far, I've found that:
A) SIV isn't the problem. HIV-1 (the predominant virus found in humans) and HIV-2 (less transmittable than HIV-1 and is largely confined to West Africa) both derive from primates' SIV strains (chimpanzees and the Sooty Mangabey monkey, respectively), but do not directly result in HIV itself.
The monkey SIV strains do not infect humans and HIV-1 does not infect monkeys.
B) The real problem is monkeypox (As witnessed by the CDC).
the monkeypox virus can remain infectious in bushmeat (a term used to describe meat obtained from animals taken in the wild or the "bush") and CDC is unaware of data demonstrating the safety of raw or even prepared bushmeat. Preparation methods such as smoking, salting, or brining bushmeat may slow down bushmeat's decay, but may not render bushmeat free of infectious agents. Therefore, CDC's rule applies to live and dead African rodents and also to products derived from such animals.
Monkeypox, unlike SIV, transmits between a wide variety of animals and humans far more easily. A 2003 outbreak in North America was caused by imported monkey transmitting the virus to prairie dogs, who ten transmitted it to the extremely vulnerable nearby humans.
C) Therefore, the importation of monkey meat can and does pose a threat, and the CDC does not know whether cooking the meat can even kill off the viruses and bacteria the meat may contain.
If you know any further details, please add them!
{"commentId":1212651,"threadId":"180478","contentId":"1119070","authorDomain":"Accelerando"}
- 7 votes
{"commentId":1213401,"authorDomain":"cartooncat"}
OK this may sound like a stupid question, but can't they get monkeys bred in America? I'm sure there must be pet shops that sell them. Then it would be no different from eating homegrown pork or beef or chicken.
Surely they don't have to import ones which have been captured in the wild in Africa.
{"commentId":1213401,"threadId":"180478","contentId":"1119070","authorDomain":"cartooncat"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1213433,"authorDomain":"Accelerando"}
It's not stupid, but it is...intriguing.
For all we know, that's exactly what they did, killing locally bought monkeys: but the article (and other articles on the same topic) don't seem to mention evidence suggesting anything of the sort.
I'm going to have to assume (news...senses...tingling) that there just weren't any pet stores nearby with monkeys (or maybe the family didn't even consider the possibility, as they only ate "true" meat from Africa and the like).
But there is also the distinct possibility of another option:
they might just want to not handpick, and personally kill, their meat.
Who knows?
I'll be looking forward to the trial, when all the evidence gets personally scrubbed over by a couple of lawyers with more direct access to Ms. Manneh then we do!
Oh, and here's a straight-from-the-source answer to Behind My Screen's question:
While smoked meat like the kind Ms. Manneh allegedly imported poses less of a health risk than non-cured animal parts, officials are still concerned about diseases being transmitted.
"A lot of disease factors haven't been determined yet," said Natalie Bailey, assistant director of the task force.
Click, click, click your Google, gently down the screen...
{"commentId":1213433,"threadId":"180478","contentId":"1119070","authorDomain":"Accelerando"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":1215366,"authorDomain":"wbrianwhite"}
OK this may sound like a stupid question, but can't they get monkeys bred in America?
Yes, if they want to pay $5,000 for dinner. And if they can find a breeder willing to sell any to them.
DigitalEnigma, I wasn't suggesting that a human would catch SIV, but that it's possible for the SIV virus to jump into humans once more, as it has done eight times already in Africa.
{"commentId":1215366,"threadId":"180478","contentId":"1119070","authorDomain":"wbrianwhite"}
{"commentId":1212195,"authorDomain":"Rebecca-Yarowsky"}
Why does America jail people if they are not a danger to the rest of the population?
Unfortunately, we do it all the time, cartooncat. And the law is much more heavy-handed (and unjust) when issuing sentences to people of color.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/2925973.stm
The link is four years old but I'll wager that the statistics still hold true.
According to the report, the 50 US states along with the District of Columbia and the federal government held as many as 1,355,748 people as of June last year.
Another 665,475 inmates were under lock and key in municipal and local jails.
In total, one in every 142 people living in the United States was in jail last year.
That figure would be higher if inmates handled by the US Immigration and Naturalization Service, and others from institutions such as military jails were included.
The US currently incarcerates more people than any other country in the world.
In China, which has a population of about 1.3 billion, there are more than 1.4 million inmates, according to Britain's Home Office. The US has a population of 286 million.
Russia, which has a population of 144 million, has a prison population of about 920,000.
Land of the free?
{"commentId":1212195,"threadId":"180478","contentId":"1119070","authorDomain":"Rebecca-Yarowsky"}
- 1 vote
#4 - Sat Nov 24, 2007 3:24 PM EST{"commentId":1212213,"authorDomain":"wbrianwhite"}
There is both a public health issue with bush meat, as well as an issue with preventing the extinction of our simian relatives from overhunting.
{"commentId":1212213,"threadId":"180478","contentId":"1119070","authorDomain":"wbrianwhite"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1212571,"authorDomain":"wingod"}
Wow I had no idea so many people were in jail from eating monkey meat!
:)
{"commentId":1212571,"threadId":"180478","contentId":"1119070","authorDomain":"wingod"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":1212655,"authorDomain":"tromba"}
.
{"commentId":1212655,"threadId":"180478","contentId":"1119070","authorDomain":"tromba"}
#5 - Sat Nov 24, 2007 6:49 PM EST{"commentId":1212733,"authorDomain":"denniswright"}
I see your point.
{"commentId":1212733,"threadId":"180478","contentId":"1119070","authorDomain":"denniswright"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1212793,"authorDomain":"MGDasef"}
I'd be willing to let it go on the "ignorant immigrant" thing even if that wasn't so blatantly racist. The thing is, the monkey parts were HIDDEN beneath some smoked fish. The woman knew it was illegal and flouted the law.
As for her nine kids, maybe they'd be better off where they aren't being exposed to monkeypox and other diseases out of some nonsensical religious requirement. Of course, I'm not too positive about any religion. They all seem to be mumbo jumbo. Eat a body? Drink the blood? Gimme a break!
{"commentId":1212793,"threadId":"180478","contentId":"1119070","authorDomain":"MGDasef"}
- 4 votes
#6 - Sat Nov 24, 2007 7:32 PM EST{"commentId":2831263,"authorDomain":"jimklich"}
Most Primates are endangered. Eating Bush Meat of any type is dangerous. We do not eat Primates in the United States. If you come to this country you need to make yourself aware of all the laws. Ignorance about a law is never a defense.
{"commentId":2831263,"threadId":"180478","contentId":"1119070","authorDomain":"jimklich"}
#7 - Mon Sep 8, 2008 11:01 PM EDT{"commentId":4185497,"authorDomain":"dgirl"}
it is true that HIV/AIDS came from monkey, but it was transmitted by blood. this meat that they are talking about has been burn dry and therefore does not have any virus to be transferable to human. i have eaten monkey meat before and has not gotton the HIV/AIDS virus, so what are they talking about. what is USA trying to say about AFRICA, that we are the disease producing continent? why do AMERICANS eat DEAR MEAT? or are they giving the dear meat medication to prevent it from virus or dear do not have viruses in them. as for running someone of the road that i can understand. she should be punish for that and not embarrassing her and the rest of us about eating bushmeat.
{"commentId":4185497,"threadId":"180478","contentId":"1119070","authorDomain":"dgirl"}
#8 - Mon Nov 24, 2008 11:53 AM EST{"commentId":10404711,"authorDomain":"breelaboy"}
{"commentId":10404719,"authorDomain":"breelaboy"}
{"commentId":10404724,"authorDomain":"breelaboy"}
{"commentId":10424326,"authorDomain":"brianalampton"}
{"commentId":10424367,"authorDomain":"brianalampton"}
{"commentId":10424436,"authorDomain":"brianalampton"}
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