Demand a ban on keeping monkeys as pets in the UK!

  • by: Shania Armstrong
  • recipient: Commons Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and DEFRA

LOOK AT THIS PETITION!!! Monkeys can still be kept as pets legally in the UK. This is cruel and they belong in the wild! These monkeys get abducted from the wild to be sold to people in the UK, as an 'interesting' conversation starter. THIS IS WRONG! I believe it is akin to abducting a child and putting them in a cage so their "owners" can boast about them.

Keeping monkeys in a domestic environment is incompatible with their complex social, behavioural, environmental and dietary needs.

Most people lack the expert knowledge required to care properly for monkeys, which is demonstrated by evidence of solitary monkeys being kept in small cages, being fed inappropriate diets, suffering physical and mental abnormalities and needing to be rescued.

Monkeys have a high capacity to suffer if their needs are not adequately provided for, as they are very clever.

The keeping and trading of pet monkeys can be detrimental to conservation efforts, encouraging the trapping and transportation of wild animals from their native habitats.

A ban on keeping primates as pets is important for sending out a clear message that the activity is not appropriate or acceptable. Conversely, as long as the trade and keeping of primates as pets in the UK remains legal, it gains legitimacy and endorsement.

Sign the petition now to tell DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)* to ban people from keeping primates as pets immediately.

The Government 'Primate Code' came into operation on 6 April 2010. This is merely guidance to pet owners on how to adhere to the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The accompanying impact assessment promised that there would be a review 5 years later (i.e. 2015). However, DEFRA have today stated that no such review will happen this year - they are now saying it will happen in 2016.

In June 2014 the previous Government's select committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs refused to agree to a ban, saying that DEFRA should first commission an independent study to discover numbers of primates being kept as pets. However, the numbers are irrelevant when it is not possible to give a primate the life it deserves when kept as a pet.

Many organisations, including the RSPCA, Primate Society of Great Britain and Humane Society International support a ban. Not only on the grounds of animal welfare, but also for public health and safety and the need to protect vulnerable or endangered species in the wild.

So please, sign this petition to help monkeys get the life they deserve, IN THE WILD.

*and the new select committee, when elected.

Update #18 years ago
thanks guys!! I have another petition open for the same cause so if you could sign that as well that would be amazing!!! you guys are awesome,
thanks a lot
shania
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