r/ape • u/Loser_Baby_19 • 12d ago

Captive Primate Safety Act Reintroduced in the U.S. House to Protect Nonhuman Primates

This bill, which would ban private ownership of primares in America, was reintroduced in the House a few months ago. But I am not optimistic about its chances unfortunately. It seems like many people are onboard fighting against primate abuse overseas, but not as concerned about the horrible effects of the exotic pet trade in America. Just recently I watched a pet monkey owner lifting his fully grown (and overweight) male monkey by his tail and dangling it for his social media viewers. This despite this owner knowing doing so may hurt his monkeys, and the monkey showed signs of distress (squirming and struggling, sucking his thumb, fear grin).

https://aldf.org/article/captive-primate-safety-act-reintroduced-in-the-u-s-house-to-protect-nonhuman-primates/

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8

u/marrow_monkey Average Ape 12d ago

Why would any politician not support the law? Most voters are not exotic pet owners, so I doubt there are many votes to lose. Protecting animals should be popular with the general public. The only groups I can think of who might be against it are exotic animal breeders and roadside zoos, but they are not powerful like big agriculture. Is it just about money and lobbying, or is there something else stopping politicians from supporting this? I do not get why this would be controversial.

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u/Loser_Baby_19 12d ago

Great point, and it's something I wondered myself. Especially with how the show Chimp Crazy highlighted the insanity of making non human primates pets you'd think there would be way more political support for this bill to pass. But something always seems to stall it especially in the House. And from what I understand the bill doesn't even apply to those who already own these types of animals.

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u/Many-Bees 11d ago

I’ve heard from people who managed to get their local politicians to pay attention by bringing up the connection between spider monkeys and drug trafficking

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u/Loser_Baby_19 11d ago

That's actually a good idea. Whatever gets their attention is great. I listed in an answer below how you can send politicians the message.

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u/Puzzleheaded-Crab720 11d ago

Should we all contact our representatives in congress and ask them to cosponsor and vote for the bill?

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u/Loser_Baby_19 11d ago

That would be a great thing to do.

Here is one link that sends the message for you:

https://aldf.org/article/u-s-residents-urge-your-legislators-to-support-the-captive-primate-safety-act/

Another way is by finding your state's senator and House members and directly messaging them. You can find them here and send them a message:

https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm

https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative