hi dr. ferox & crew! i work with primates in the states and am interested in the captivity politics. the general consensus among US vets seems to condemn primate pethood, but i know of one in my area with a huge youtube following that shows off his pet marmoset. do australian vets have any kind of consensus on private hobbyist primate ownership, & is it common in australia? input from mods on their countries would be cool too if it's not too much trouble! thanks for yalls time :)
It’s completely illegal outside of a zoo setting. We have no native non-human primates, and keeping one as a pet would be viewed somewhere between a bit weird and abhorrent.
- Dr Ferox
Prynhawn,
Vets in the United States definitely condemn keeping primates as pets, and so does most of the general public. (You can find an example of the laws regarding owning primates here)
There’s also the movie industry, which has a lot of complicated politics about how primate “actors” are perceived, and how featuring primates on screen adds to the illegal pet trade that runs rampant in the States.
We’ve established that keeping primates as pets is illegal, but unfortunately that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen. The black market for exotic pets is a huge thing in the US, and if you have enough money and know the right people you can pretty much get what you want. Here’s some information about that:
Basic information/psa
How the primate pet trade started
Trafficked monkeys coming from Peru
More on the exotic pet trade
Primates are not pets
Because I also come from the other side of the pond, I’ve looked up some sources on how the UK is dealing with it, and you can find those here:
UK wildlife crime map
UK government’s efforts to stop the illegal wildlife trade
The Royal Family on illegal wildlife trade
Wildlife trade around the world
I think that any vet would agree with Dr. Ferox when she says that primates should not be kept as pets. In fact, most people would. If I ever encountered someone who had a monkey as a pet I would be more than a little worried, and would definitely look into what authorities to contact to ensure the welfare of the animal.
-mod @whalefromwales
