Spring 2004

The Monkey Sanctuary Trust visits Number 10 Downing Street

The Monkey Sanctuary Trust based in Looe, Cornwall has, over the past few years, been campaigning with the support of other animal welfare organisations to end the trade in primates as pets in the UK.

It is hoped that through the proposed Animal Welfare Bill, primates will receive the protection they deserve and no longer have to suffer living in isolation as pets in converted garden sheds or houses.

The campaign is gaining momentum with 8,000 signatories having put their names behind the cause and, although the Government does not want the Animal Welfare Bill to stop any animal from being a pet, The Monkey Sanctuary Trust are not about to stop working until the primate pet trade ceases to exist in the UK.

Petitions have been signed, MP’s have been contacted, meetings have been held, parliamentary questions asked and on Wednesday 11th February 2004, a contingent from the Monkey Sanctuary Trust along with Norman Baker MP, Animal Welfare spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats and with Colin Breed MP knocked at Number 10 Downing Street to hand in the petition along with a letter to Tony Blair calling for an end to the primate pet trade.

So, as the Animal Welfare Bill is being prepared for its final public consultation, and the Dangerous Wild Animals (DWA) Act 1976 will soon be ready for its first public consultation, it is time to protect primates.

A DWA licence is required in order for people to own most primates as a pet. In correspondence with The Monkey Sanctuary Trust regarding the DWA, Mr Elliot Morley MP stated that “it does contain ancillary welfare provisions. The Act does require the local authority to consider a report from a veterinary surgeon, addressing issues such as the suitability of the proposed accommodation. A veterinary inspection is also required annually if the licence is to be renewed.” However, despite Mr Morley’s comments, the de-listing of some primate species from requiring a DWA licence is being recommended. If this occurs, no protection will be afforded to these primates.

The primate pet trade is bigger than The Monkey Sanctuary Trust had at first envisaged, certainly exceeding the original estimate of 1500 individuals being kept as pets. Although breeders maintain that their primates receive the highest level of care and that potential primate pet owners know how to look after their primate, The Monkey Sanctuary Trust’s findings present a very different reality.

Of the capuchins rescued by The Trust, all exhibited stereotypic behaviour such as pacing, neck twisting or over grooming; and all arrived without a DWA licence. Each monkey has a story to tell of being passed from home to home as they became unwanted or neglected. Peppy, living in a garden shed with no enrichment and Gary, rescued from a flat where another dead monkey was found and where dogs and cats were also living in squalor. Unfortunately these stories are all too common and other sanctuaries are able to recount similarly distressing stories.

All primates are wild animals that would normally live in large social groups, yet most of the rescued capuchins at the Sanctuary were living in isolation with no mental or physical stimulation. Pet primates living on their own or without growing up in normal social groups will often demonstrate stereotypic behaviour such as pacing and over grooming.

People often don’t realise that primates can live up to 30 or 40 years and are naturally destructive when looking for food and because of their naturally inquisitive natures. If kept in a house, they can destroy furniture and will defecate and throw food wherever they want.

The Trust receives many phone calls from people interested in having a monkey as a pet and these people often contact us after having spoken to a pet shop. The Trust has found that some pet shops have advised that “you only need a hamster cage for a marmoset monkey”, a cruelly confined and unacceptable living space.

With all the revisions and the new Animal Welfare Bill being proposed, 2004 is proving to be a vitally important year for primates and we need to seize this opportunity to protect them. The Monkey Sanctuary Trust needs your help to help primates in the UK and overseas.