Throng

9:30pm - Wednesday, January 20 on TV 3

What motivates a couple to raise a monkey? My Monkey Baby, screening on Wednesday, January 20th at 9:30pm on 3, attempts to answer this question by exposing couples who treat their Capuchin monkeys like their own offspring.

They have wardrobes packed with cute clothes, more toys than they could ever wish for and parents who lavish them with attention and treats. We're not talking about spoilt children, but pet monkeys - and the craze to treat them as substitute babies.

This bizarre and controversial trend is sweeping America, where wannabe parents are rushing to adopt the cute creatures to raise as their own sons and daughters.

To Lori and Jim Johnson, Jessica Marie is far more than a monkey. "If I hear anyone call her a monkey I throw a fit," says 'dad' Jim. "She's my daughter, 100%!"

For wife Lori, having a 'monkid' seemed the perfect answer to her needs. Lori had such severe "empty nest syndrome" when her six children moved out, that she spent three months in hospital with depression.

Adopting Jessy, a capuchin monkey, provided 59-year-old Lori with another "child" to care for.

"For a long time after the kids all left, the quiet killed me," says Lori. "I got over it with Jessy. She was going to be my baby I was going to have forever.

"She wasn't going to graduate, she wasn't going to college, she wasn't going to get married and she's going to be with me until I die."

To have a child that never grows up may sound like a nightmare to many people, but to these "parents" it's a dream come true...

But what makes a couple take on a 40-year commitment to an eternal toddler? How strong is the mother/monkey attachment? And can a monkey really become a child substitute? Find out when My Monkey Baby screens on Wednesday, January 20th at 9:30pm on 3.