No more monkey business: Justin Bieber given four weeks to claim his pet monkey Mally

Justin Bieber has been given four weeks to claim his pet monkey Mally, or German officials will place it into permanent care, the pop singer has been warned.

The capuchin monkey was seized by customs in Munich last week when the 19-year-old singer failed to produce the correct documentation to bring the animal into the country. Mally was placed in a quarantine shelter pending the submission of health papers.

A statement from the shelter said the six-month old monkey was too young to have been taken away from its mother.

Karl-Heinz Joachim, from the shelter, told Spiegel Online: “The monkey is cheerful and is eating well and has his replacement mummy [a toy cat] with it all the time.”

Bieber has since left Munich, playing gigs in Vienna, Berlin and Hamburg. Neither the singer nor his representatives have contacted the animal sanctuary, officials say. But several zoos have offered to give Mally a new home if Bieber returns home without him.

The popstar told US Weekly last month: “The biggest misconception about me is that I’m a bad person. I want to be a good role model, but some people want me to fail.” The pop star is currently under investigation for allegedly assaulting his neighbour.