Over the weekend a strong-willed and smartly attired rhesus monkey was found wandering around the grounds of an Ikea store in Toronto and became an overnight Internet celebrity. The Twitter account @IKEAmonkey may have already been suspended, but the incident is but one of many in the furnishings retailer's expectedly strange history with four-legged creatures. And that's excluding, of course, "pens for men."
? In 2007, Ikea Canada got into a bit of hot water when one of its catalog pages showed a male dog with a, uh, "larger-than-normal, human-like appendage." Apparently the two-page front-cover foldout had not, in fact, been Photoshopped, as many assumed at the time.
? In 2010, Ikea UK released 100 cats—as in actual cats, live felines—in a London store as an "experiment" "just to see what happens." The escapade was filmed and turned into a commercial, and the retailer also "released a feline friendly Cat-alogue," which has sadly been dismantled.
? Last April, Ikea Australia declared its interest in "looking at pet furniture needs" and introduced the HUNDSTOL doggie highchair, which "simulates what naturally occurs in the wild, resulting in a balanced and more happier animal." Watch the promo above.
? In August, Ikea Germany devised an ingenious way to placate pet-owners and maintain its no-pets store policy: outdoor dog-parking stations, complete with AstroTurf lawns, water bowls, and hooks for leashes.
· All Ikea coverage [Curbed National]
· Pet Monkey Breaks Free to Furniture Shop in Ikea, Duh [Curbed National]
· IKEA in dog penis scandal [Democratic Underground]
· English People Let 100 Cats Loose in London Ikea Just For Fun [Racked National]
· Ikea Australia Introduces the HUNDSTOL Highchair For Dogs [Curbed National]