Florida woman arrested after pet spider monkey allegedly attacks Home Depot employees

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A woman whose pet spider monkey allegedly attacked two Home Depot employees in separate incidents has been arrested.

The news comes after the monkey, "Spanky," reportedly jumped out of a shopping cart and grabbed a Home Depot cashier's shirt, leaving “red marks on the cashier’s shoulder and back," the Palm Beach Post reported in May. The incident was not reported to wildlife officials at the time.

In early June, Marilyn Howard, another Home Depot employee in Okeechobee, Florida, claimed she was attacked by Spanky after she noticed the monkey roaming the store’s parking lot with a leash on, Fox News previously reported.

Howard approached Spanky, which allegedly escaped from Ballard's truck while she was shopping inside. While trying to find its owner, Spanky was spooked by the store’s sliding doors, prompting it to jump on Howard and bite her arm, Howard claimed.

It also reportedly grabbed her hair and lunged off the side of her body, landing in the store’s entrance. At that point, Howard panicked and ran after the monkey. She caught it, but not without a fight: the Home Depot employee also suffered scratches and bite marks to her face and body.

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