Yesterday we brought you the unfortunate story of 8-year-old Tayce Nickel, who was attacked by a macaque in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Springfield, Missouri. We cited a local news report which quoted the monkey's owner, who said that Tayce had entered their SUV and was then "scratched" by Charlie.

Today we heard from Tayce's father, Mike Weeks, who was upset about what he said was the erroneous and one-sided nature of the coverage. According to Weeks, the woman who gave the interview, Vicki Pulley, was not present during the attack — her husband Eugene was. And contrary to Vicki's account, Weeks said Tayce had never come close to entering the vehicle.

Weeks writes:

We parked directly beside the vehicle the owner of the monkey was sitting in (Eugene Pully). A gentleman was standing by the vehicle when we pulled up [who was] talking to [the monkey], which drew our attention to the animal. As we got out of the minivan my daughter wanted to see the monkey, with her mother standing right beside her. Standing even with the driver window, and at what we thought was a safe distance from the animal, she waved and said, "Hi monkey".

The animal then lept from the driver door onto her, grasping her hair and biting her forehead. The owner reached out, grabbed the monkey by its shirt, and jerked it back into the vehicle. He then tried to claim it was only a scratch, and Tayce somehow provoked the animal or jumped into the vehicle. He was in a full-size Suburban, which even if she had wanted to do what they claim would have been physically impossible.

Had Eugene simply kept the animal inside his vehicle, or had the common courtesy to apologize and willingly give us contact information, this wouldn't be a story at all. We simply wanted their information as a precautionary measure — but after we found out they had no records for the animal, and it was illegal to possess to begin with, we were glad we pressed the issue.

So there you have it: Tayce was being a curious and well-behaved little girl who just wanted to say hello to a monkey, and she paid the price. We all hope she gets better really fast.

Previously: Macaque Attacks Little Girl in Wal-Mart Parking Lot