Despite past efforts to shut down the exotic pet trade for primates, a variety of species continue to be sold and kept as pets in the U.S.
Now lawmakers are back with legislation to protect both us and them from the problems that come with their continued trade. Not only does keeping them as pets pose health and safety risks to us, but it poses serious problems for the welfare of these intelligent and social animals who belong with their own families in the wild, not in our homes.
While there are a patchwork of local and state regulations dealing with them as pets, animal advocates believe federal legislation is needed to close the gaps.
The Captive Primate Safety Act will amend the Lacey Act to add nonhuman primates to the list of animals who can’t be bought or moved across state lines as pets.
Please sign and share this petition urging your representative to support this important piece of legislation to protect primates from the pet trade.
As someone who is concerned with both animal welfare and public safety, I am writing to ask you to support recently introduced legislation that would make it harder to keep nonhuman primates as pets.
Keeping monkeys, chimps and other primates as pets not only poses health and safety risks to us, but it also poses serious problems concerning the welfare of these intelligent and social animals.
Issues range from infants being torn from their mothers and mutilating them to make them less dangerous to keeping them in conditions that don’t meet their needs or are blatantly abusive. More problems can come when those cute little babies get too expensive, or too large or difficult to handle.
While there are a patchwork of state laws and regulations across the nation that deal with primates as pets, people can still easily get them online, at auctions and from out-of-state dealers, which animal advocates believe makes federal legislation necessary to cover the gaps.
The Captive Primate Safety Act (H.R. 2920) will amend the Lacey Act to add nonhuman primates to the list of animals who can’t be bought or moved across state lines as pets.
While we choose to put ourselves at risk, primates on the other hand have no say in the matter. I sincerely hope you will support this critical piece of legislation to keep both us and primates safer.
