Couple Leaves Wealth To Monkey – ‘The monkey enjoys Chinese food, tea n mango juice’

Brajesh and Shabista Srivastava is a couple in India, said they are going to leave all their money to the pet monkey.

The husband and wife owe their wealth and success to the primate, who they believe has enriched their lives. 

The couple, who have no children, want to make sure Chunmun is looked after if they die before he does. 

They have set up a trust fund for the long-tailed macaque, who they adopted after it was orphaned and consider being like a son.

Chunmun is 10 years old but his breed have been known to live up to 40, so it could be that he outlives the Srivastavas.

"People might say we are mad, they might even ridicule us," Mrs Srivastava, a 45-year-old lawyer said.

"But we know how valuable Chunmun is to us. We are childless and Chunmun is a son to me."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, who live in Uttar Pradesh in northern India, were disinherited by their families after they married against their wishes.

Mr Srivastava is Hindu while his wife is Muslim and both families disapproved. 

They started off poor but, they say, since Chunmum came into their lives in 2005, they have done very well.

They own their own home and have a number of businesses run by Mr Srivastava, all of which are named after the monkey. 

The animal, too, lives in style, with his own air-conditioned room and a mate called Bitti, a simian monkey who the couple took in to keep their boy company.

According to the pair, the monkey enjoys Chinese food and tea and mango juice. 

Their "wedding anniversary" is celebrated each year with a party to which hundreds of people are invited.

After Chunmun dies, any money left will go to a charity that looks after the welfare of monkeys in India.