8th June 2021

Today the government has launched a new bill covering a range of animal welfare issues. The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill, introduced to Parliament today, will ban the keeping and trading of primate pets.

Whilst the bill is a long-awaited victory that would see the ending of a huge swathe of the primate pet industry, the proposed law doesn't go far enough. It will still allow primates to be kept by private collectors as long as they are kept to 'zoo-level standards'. In a press release, Defra said:

Primates are highly intelligent animals with complex needs and require specialist care. The Government will deliver on its manifesto commitment to introduce a ban on keeping them as pets, ensuring that all primates being kept privately in England are being kept at zoo-level standards and that those unable to meet the standards are phased out.

Freedom for Animals believes the new ban should cover all privately kept primates. No primate should be forced to endure a lifetime of captivity.

The proposed ban would cover pet shops such as that exposed by Freedom for Animals in May 2021, in which marmoset monkeys were held in small, wire cages.

Want to make sure the bill bans ALL primate keeping in the pet trade? Make a donation to our primate appeal today and fuel our lobbying work.

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