OK, prepare yourself for this opening paragraph:
A former meerkat expert at London's main zoo has been ordered to pay compensation to a monkey handler she attacked in a love-triangle spat over a llama-keeper.
Got your mind around it? Yes? We'll continue.
According to local media, a judge at Westminster Magistrates' Court said Wednesday that Caroline Westlake must pay 800 pounds ($1,235) to Kate Sanders for using a wine glass to assault her in a dispute over Adam Davies, who had relationships with both women.
The Guardian newspaper reported that the women became embroiled in the December fight after Davies, who dated Sanders for five years, started a relationship with Westlake.
According to the paper, Sanders -- she's the monkey expert -- saw Westlake (the meerkat maven) and Davies (the llama man) together for the first time at a Christmas party and made a comment about Westlake that sparked an argument that ended with Sanders being struck in the face with a wine glass.
Westlake claimed that Sauders attacked her first by punching her in the face, and held her over a balcony while spitting in her face, the Independent newspaper reported.
She said she did not recall using a glass, but said that ADHD and dyspraxia may have caused accidental movements.
Westlake, 30, cried as she was sentenced to a 12-month community order and ordered to pay £800 in compensation to Sanders and £200 in prosecution costs, The Guardiansaid.
The judge Coleman described Sanders' injury, which required five stitches, as "nasty" and told the Westlake she was fortunate not to have been convicted of a more serious charge.
Sanders was taken to a hospital, the paper reported. In an impact statement she said she was left with a permanent scar on her cheek. "I have to see that scar every day when I look in the mirror," she added.
Westlake was fired by the zoo, also known as the Zoological Society of London.
