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Toronto Ikea monkey goes viral

A mischievous macaque that nearly wandered into a Toronto Ikea on Sunday has become a celebrity after the monkey's adventures inspired international news reports and two spoof Twitter accounts.

Shoppers quickly snapped several photos of the monkey wandering around the parking lot of the furniture store.

Twitter user Bronwyn Page tweeted a picture of a tiny monkey wearing a shearling coat. She wrote:

Before long, news outlets everywhere had covered the story, including the BBC. The broadcaster interviewed Bronwyn Page saying shoppers were shocked when they spotted the creature.

[ Related: Monkey in coat runs loose at Toronto Ikea parking lot ]

"All the people were trying to call it towards them but it was very scared, it was darting all over the place. They were trying to get it away from cars," Page told the BBC.

But the primate never got the chance to assemble any Ikea furniture and make us humans look incompetent because staff cornered it and called the police, according to the CBC.

Toronto police Sgt. Ed Dzingala said the monkey was in a crate in its owner's car but managed to get out and wander around.

"It's a smart monkey," Dzingala told the CBC.

Animal services suspected the monkey was a pet because of its stylish attire and said a man claimed it on Sunday. Reports say he was charged with owning a banned animal.

No less than two spoof Twitter accounts are making light of the incident: @IKEAmonkey and @Ikea_Monkey.

The monkey also has a Facebook page as a public figure and another page entitled "IKEA Monkey for Toronto Mayor."

[ Photos: 'Monkey business' at Toronto Ikea store ]

Users retweeted CBC host Jian Ghomeshi's Twitter joke about the incident more than 200 times:

Here are some other reactions from Twitter users: