Finding Sanctuary: Life After the Primate Pet Trade
There are approximately 15,000 primates kept as 'pets' in U.S. homes. In nature, nonhuman primates live in complex, multigenerational, social hierarchies. These needs are incompatible with the realities of life in captivity.
BORN FREE USA: Across the United States, thousands of monkeys, apes, and other nonhuman primates are kept as pets in private homes. Finding Sanctuary: Life after the Primate Pet Trade explores the current legal landscape in the U.S.; the horrendous suffering of the animals kept as pets; the dangers of keeping primates as pets; and tells the stories of a few individual monkeys who made it out of the pet trade to find a new life at the Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary, one of the largest primate sanctuaries in the United States…
Conservative estimates suggest there are approximately 15,000 primates kept as “pets” in U.S. homes. Nonhuman primates (such as chimpanzees, galagos, gibbons, gorillas, lemurs, lorises, monkeys, orangutans, and tarsiers) are highly intelligent and sensitive wild animals. In nature, most species live in complex, multigenerational, social hierarchies. These needs are fundamentally incompatible with the realities of life in captivity as pets.
In addition to being cruel, keeping nonhuman primates as pets is also dangerous. Monkeys and other nonhuman primates are wild animals that cannot be domesticated and stories of injuries, attacks, and escapes by pet primates abound. Nonhuman primates also carry a host of illnesses that could pass to humans, including yellow fever, monkey pox, Ebola and Marburg virus, Herpes simiae (herpes B), simian immunodeficency virus (SIV, the primate form of HIV), viral hepatitis, and measles.
A legislative solution is needed to combat the problem of primates as pets! The Captive Primate Safety Act would prohibit the interstate commerce of primates as pets and ban the private ownership of these species, with exemptions for bona fide sanctuaries, universities, and other facilities. The bill would also restrict contact between the public and primates. Urge your lawmaker to cosponsor the Captive Primate Safety Act! SOURCE…
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