Bieber 'pays fine for abandoned monkey'

Justin Bieber has reportedly paid authorities for abandoning his pet monkey in Germany.

The 20-year-old Canadian singer lost his gifted pet primate Mally after entering the country without filling out the proper paperwork in March 2013.

German officials seized the animal and Justin never returned to retrieve Mally.

Seventeen months later, German authorities now say the pop star has paid the $10,700 he owed as a result, according to the Associated Press.

A spokesperson for the German Federal Nature Conservation Agency told the outlet the fines were from the monkey's import and the cost of care at an animal shelter.

Justin was given the unusual pet for his 19th birthday by music producer Jamal 'Mally Mal' Rashid.

The primate was seized by customs officials in Germany on March 28 2013 and placed in quarantine.

Reports last year suggested Justin had previously been given an extension to complete the paperwork to get his pet back, after his management initially expressed an interest in retrieving the monkey. But it appeared the All Around The World singer has now bowed to pressure from animal welfare experts who have implored the star to "do the decent thing" and release Mally to officials.

"A baby monkey was never going to be suited to be on a world tour even if he is travelling by private jet," the Munich clinic boss Karl Heinz Joachim told Britain's Daily Mail newspaper at the time. "He should be out in the wild climbing trees and learning from other monkeys if he isn't to have serious psychological problems later in life."

Capuchin monkeys normally spend at least one year bonding with their mother, but Mally was given to Justin at just nine to ten-weeks-old. It had been reported the monkey was crying out to find other members of its family.

'We have to discuss now the way forward with customs officials and other responsible departments," Karl added.
Mally now lives at a zoo in northern Germany, according to AP.

Attorney Ellen Frederichs told Celebuzz late last year Justin would be forced to pay the fines if he ever wanted to step foot in Germany in the future.

'If Mr. Bieber will not settle his costs, the payment might have to be enforced when he will enter Germany again,' she said.