Woman ordered to move her menagerie from neighborhood

Thursday, June 5, 2003 | 9:21 a.m.

A woman who keeps wild animals in a residential neighborhood has one week to move her chimpanzees, leopards and other exotic fauna out of the area.

Monica Riddell, who moved into her neighborhood near Rancho and Vegas drives about a year ago with her menagerie, sought the Clark County Commission's approval Wednesday to keep the animals. The commission, by a 4-0 vote, denied her request but agreed to re-hear the issue in one month.

Faced with concerns from more than a dozen nearby residents who feared for their safety, the commission ordered her to relocate the animals within a week.

"This is a regular residential neighborhood," said David Pancoast, one of the neighbors. "They've built this thing with man-eating animals in the middle of it."

Clark County Animal Control Manager Joseph Boteilho said he was concerned not only about the possibility of the animals escaping, but also about the possibility of a child getting into the area with the caged animals.

Riddell has three chimps and a half-dozen leopards, along with exotic birds and reptiles.

He recommended that Clark County's Public Response Office begin "criminal prosecution of Riddell for illegally establishing the animals at her half-acre residential property."

Boteilho also noted that Riddell's chimpanzees have bitten several people in the last several years. Adult chimps, belying their popular image, can be dangerous.

County planning officials said inspections of the property "revealed serious code violations."

Riddell had about a dozen supporters at the county zoning hearing on the issue. At times the to-and-fro between the sides became heated. Commissioner Chip Maxfield, acting chairman of the zoning hearing, had one opponent of the small zoo expelled from the meeting.

Riddell, who breeds the animals at the site, said some of her animals recently gave birth unexpectedly. She said she also has had difficulty finding appropriate places to keep the animals.

Maxfield and Commissioner Mark James both noted that she was keeping the animals illegally when they gave her a week to move them out of the location.