|
Pet Life is No Life for Primates Call it the tale of three primates: Last month, an Ohio truck driver stopped to avoid hitting a runaway macaque. The monkey jumped into the truck, bit the driver, and fled. An animal expert later told a detective on the case that because of disease risk, he would rather have a lion or tiger on the loose than a macaque. Four months earlier, on March 3, two chimpanzees proved just how dangerous primates are, when they escaped their enclosures and mauled a California man and his wife. Three months and a dozen surgeries later, the man was finally allowed to emerge from a medically induced coma—but he still has a long road to recovery. These are not aberrations, either. More than 100 people have been attacked in the past 10 years, by one count. It's largely because an estimated 15,000 primates are in private hands in the United States, even though keeping them as pets raises serious animal welfare and human safety concerns. While they may seem cute and compliant as infants, monkeys, chimpanzees, and other primates eventually become strong, aggressive, and difficult to manage. When that happens, these social, intelligent, and long-lived animals are often confined in small cages, drugged, or defanged in an effort to make them less dangerous.
previously in the House as H.R. 1329 by Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson
(D-TX) and Rob Simmons (R-CT)—will prohibit interstate and
foreign commerce in nonhuman primates for the pet trade. This
federal bill is a much needed step to complement state and local efforts
to restrict the possession of these wild animals as pets.
|
 |