Purpose: The Lacey Act Amendments bar the interstate and foreign commerce of dangerous exotic animals — including lions, tigers, leopards, cheetahs, jaguars, and cougars — for use as “pets.” This bill would add nonhuman primates to this list of prohibited species. The bill would not ban all private ownership of primates; rather, it would outlaw the commerce of these animals for use as “pets.”
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Status: Passed Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders.
Action: SUPPORT. Please contact your two U.S. Senators and urge them to support S. 1498. Tell your Senators that this bill will protect public health and safety as well as helping to ensure animal welfare.
Talking Points for your letter:
- Nonhuman primates are wild and inherently dangerous. Across the country children and adults have been attacked or bitten by monkeys.
- When in the hands of private individuals, the animals themselves may suffer. These animals require special care, housing, diet, and maintenance that the average person cannot provide. Individuals who possess these animals often attempt to change the nature of the animal rather than the nature of the care provided. Many of these animals are either euthanized, abandoned, or doomed to live in deplorable conditions.
- Monkeys are the most common nonhuman primates privately held. Monkeys tend to exhibit unpredictable behavior after the age of two. Males become aggressive, and both males and females bite to defend themselves and to establish dominance. Of monkey bites reported since 1990, many resulted in serious injury to the possessor, a neighbor, or a stranger on the street.
- Eighty to 90 percent of all macaque monkeys are infected with Herpes B-virus or Simian B, a virus that is harmless to monkeys but fatal to 70 percent of humans who contract it. At any given time, about 2 percent of infected macaque monkeys are shedding the virus. A person who is bitten, scratched, sneezed on, or spat on while shedding occurs runs the risk of contracting the disease. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) asserts that the increase in macaque monkeys in the pet trade may constitute an emerging infectious disease threat in the United States.
- Under the existing law, nonhuman primates may be imported into the U.S. and sold only for “scientific, educational, or exhibition purposes.” However, the animals may not be imported for keeping as companion animals. As a result, S. 1498 is consistent with and strengthens existing law.