Wild Futures comments on the monkey found in Canadian furniture store
Date: 12 December 2012
Wild Futures comments on the monkey found in Canadian furniture store
Wild Futures, the primate welfare charity in UK was concerned this week to hear the news regarding a monkey found wondering in a furniture store entrance in Canadian city Toronto, dressed in a sheepskin jacket.
Brooke Aldrich, Campaigns Manager at Wild Futures stated: “It is evident that the monkey in this case is young. Indeed young monkeys should be with their mothers, but it is common practise in the primate pet trade for them to be removed as infants to be sold as pets and it appears that this happened here. Adult Rhesus macaques are extremely aggressive and dangerous, and a high percentage of them carry Simian Herpes B Virus which, if transmitted to humans is deadly. Although this is a rare occurrence this is an obvious threat to human safety.”
It is an illegal offence to keep pet monkeys in Toronto. Sadly, in the UK the situation is opposite and it is still legal. It is estimated that there are approximately 5,000 privately owned primates in the UK. Many owners fail to obtain the required licences and from what we have observed, it appears that few manage to meet the requirements of the Animal Welfare Act. The primate pet trade is known to severely compromise monkey welfare, and this is recognised by primatologists worldwide, including the International Primate Society (1) which states: “Individuals who privately acquire primates for non-certified educational, non-scientific or non registered/accredited sanctuary purposes are often unable to provide or sustain adequate care and facilities for these long-lived mammals.”
Primates are socially complex animals and are in no way suitable to be kept as a pet. The welfare needs of primates based on the five welfare needs in the Animal Welfare Act 2006 cannot be met when primates are kept as pets. The five needs are: its need for a suitable environment; its need for a suitable diet, its need to be able to exhibit normal behaviour patterns; any need it has to be housed with, or apart from, other animals; its need to be protected from pain, suffering, injury and disease.
Keepers at the Wild Futures’ Monkey Sanctuary observe every day the damage caused by the primate pet trade still being legal in the UK. Although the Sanctuary started as a woolly monkey sanctuary in the 1960’s, today the majority of its residents are capuchins due to their popularity as pets. Nearly all the monkeys arrive at the Sanctuary displaying physical and/or psychological problems from their time as pets.
Wild Futures is working with a number of organisations to end the UK primate pet trade. There are a number of ways that people can help –by signing the petition on the Wild Futures website www.wildfutures.org and by writing to their local MP. Template letters are available by emailing [email protected]
(1) International Primate Society http://www.internationalprimatologicalsociety.org/PrivateOwnershipOfNonHumanPrimates.cfm