Here's a challenge: try not to break into a smile when you read this story.  This is better than the pony and zebra who broke loose and galloped down the street in Staten Island last week.

If it weren't for stories like this, reading the news could easily turn into a slow and painful mode of suicide.  Especially when it comes to news from the Kingdom of the Castro Dynasty.

But what is this monkey doing on Babalu?  Where's the Cuba angle?  Not hard to find at all, if you try.  Keeping in mind that this is a Canadian monkey, it's not at all wrong to speculate that at some point he could show up in Castrolandia, looking for prostitutes. For all we know, he could have just come back to Toronto from Varadero, where the daughter of an ex-prisoner told him about the wonderful Ikea furniture her father put together as a slave laborer.  Maybe he had to get out of the car and see those Ikea couches for himself.   Or maybe he was the real successor picked by Hugo Chavez, who suddenly decided to seek asylum in the Great White North.

Given that this monkey is turning into an internet sensation through photoshop images that show him in odd places, maybe you could do that yourself, if you have the skills: the possibilities within a Cuban setting are as infinite as your imagination.   So, if you feel up to it, and have the know-how, take the monkey to Cuba and send Babalu the doctored photos.

Was he doing his Christmas shopping?
Well-dressed monkey in a winter coat and diapers escapes car and heads to Ikea

An unaccompanied monkey wearing a stylish winter coat and a diaper surprised Sunday shoppers at a Toronto Ikea.

The fashionable rhesus macaque, sporting a miniature shearling jacket, was first spotted in the parking lot, before roaming around and eventually being cornered inside the store.

Police believe that the pet had been in a car before escaping from both a crate and the vehicle to look around Ikea. Canadian police said: 'It's a smart monkey.'

Shopper Bronwyn Page told Toronto CTVNews of when she spotted the unusual customer outside the store: 'We saw a crowd of people and a little animal and I was like ‘oh my gosh it’s a monkey.’ Page first believed that the seven-month-old animal was fake but discovered otherwise when the monkey showed signs of distress.

'It started darting all over the place. It was scared.' She added: 'It was very bizarre to see a real live monkey there. It was really small and just funny dressed in the coat.'

Toronto animal services eventually caught the monkey inside the store. The primate's owners, who had been shopping in Ikea, came forward after the incident. They now face $240 fine for having an illegal pet.
The rhesus macaque species is not endangered but it is against the law to keep the animal in Ontario. The monkey remains in the care of animal services but is said to have recovered from its stressful shopping experience and is in good health.

News of a monkey in a coat visiting Ikea quickly went viral on social networks. On Twitter, #Ikeamonkey trended and there are least two parody accounts. There is also an Ikea Monkey page on Facebook.
A new internet meme also developed, with the warm and smart monkey being depicted in a range of unlikely situations.

For more photos, go HERE.