England's proposed ban on keeping pet monkeys puts an end to “immense suffering”.

The English government has launched an eight-week public consultation where members of the public are welcome to take the survey, provide suggestions to help the government determine which new measures to bring forth in the new legislation concerning the ban of primates as pets in England. According to data obtained by Wild Futures, close to 5000 primates, such as marmosets, tamarins, apes, lemurs, bushbabies, lorises, capuchins, squirrel monkeys and others are currently kept as pets in the UK. In addition to the proposed ban, the government has announced that it will increase the current maximum penalty for causing unnecessary suffering from 6 months to 5 years imprisonment, an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

There is no requirement to register ownership of many primate species. The lack of regulation and paperwork means one can casually walk into a pet shop or search the internet to purchase a pet primate. Sellers are not obliged to inspect potential owners , and as a result, it’s almost impossible to track where these primates go to after they are sold. People somehow discovered a loophole around the Dangerous Wild Animals Act (DWAA) 1976, making marmosets an exception to the Act, requiring no license for owning one. RSPCA data found that Marmosets are the most commonly kept species, making up 81% of the UK's total pet primates.

In 2010, the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) introduced the Code of Practice for the Welfare of Privately Kept Non-Human Primates. Still, it has failed to meet the government’s objectives of restricting ownership and reducing numbers handed to sanctuaries. Enforceability of the code was also tricky as many primates were kept in secret, with no data on their whereabouts.

Dr Ros Clubb, senior scientific manager at the RSPCA, said primates could "become depressed without adequate stimulation". She added:

"Sadly, our inspectors are still seeing shocking situations where monkeys are cooped up in birdcages, fed fast food, sugary drinks or even class A drugs, deprived of companions of their own kind, living in dirt and squalor and suffering from disease."

Animal Welfare Minister Lord Goldsmith said: 'Primates are hugely intelligent and socially complex animals. When they are confined in tiny cages, often alone and with little stimulation, their lives are a misery.

“It's important that we take action to prevent the suffering caused to them when they are kept as pets and so I am delighted that we are moving a big step closer towards banning the practice.”

Dr Ben Garrod, the author of The Chimpanzee & Me and professor of evolutionary biology at the University of East Anglia, claimed that any chimpanzees or monkeys purchased as pets would be 'dead within two years' as humans lack the ability to care for them properly.

It is no easy feat training and domesticating primates, let alone raising them in captivity and confining them in an unfamiliar place outside of their natural habitat. Primates are highly intelligent and sociable wild animals who require a high degree of care. Inexperienced owners often underestimate the complex behavioural, mental and physical needs required by these animals.

Monkeys are protected wild animals under Cap. 170 Wild Animals Protection Ordinance. Keeping one is illegal in Hong Kong unless the government grants a special permit. However, in the case of Kam Ying, a pet monkey who was fortunately returned to its owner on humanitarian grounds after its owner took out a judicial review application.

Courtesy of Amelia Wang.
Main Source: BBC