Photos of the stuffed monkey

Previous story: FBI investigates stuffed monkey hung in St. Louis Fire Department

KMOV

  ST. LOUIS (AP) -- The FBI rules that a hanging stuffed monkey found inside a St. Louis fire station earlier this month was not a hate crime.

  City officials asked the FBI to investigate. But the FBI determined a strap was not mean to emulate a noose.

  A firefighters union official says the monkey was found at a fire scene and was hung up to dry.

  The incident came at a time when the department was already racially divided following the ouster of Fire Chief Sherman George, who is black.

  The FBI continues to look into threats generated by the monkey incident and left in the comment section of an Internet blog.

  (Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)