The Captive Primate Safety Act (HR 8164/S 4206) was reintroduced in May by Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), with AWI’s strong endorsement. This bill would ban the private possession of nonhuman primates.
Primates’ needs are irreconcilable with the realities of captive life as pets. All too often, owners faced with the reality of an aggressive, active animal in their home will mutilate and isolate primates in an attempt to “tame” them. The animals experience physical and psychological suffering when confronted with unrealistic expectations that they will behave like perfectly trained pets or “little humans.” Primates also pose a serious threat to the people around them (as evidenced by the hundreds of reported injuries nationwide over the last few decades) and can carry life-threatening diseases that are communicable to humans, including Ebola, tuberculosis, and the Herpes B virus.