A man has admitted he beat a monkey to death at an Idaho zoo last year.
Michael Watkins, 22, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of attempted grand theft and one misdemeanour count of animal cruelty.
In exchange for his guilty pleas, prosecutors agreed to drop felony charges of grand theft and burglary.
The Idaho Statesman reports Watkins will be sentenced on May 16. The attempted grand theft and animal cruelty charges can carry up to seven years in prison and six months in jail, respectively.
Watkins had initially pleaded not guilty, telling police the Patas monkey attacked him as he was trying to set it free from Zoo Boise in the early morning hours of November 17.
He said he hit the monkey on the head with a tree branch in self-defence. Police alleged Watkins tried to steal the monkey after a night of heavy drinking.
A friend who was with Watkins at the time backed up that allegation but denied his own involvement, the Statesman reports.
Watkins' father said it was a drunken prank gone wrong, and that his son had only been trying to take a picture with the monkey when it bit and attacked him.
