Keeping primates as pets will be banned under new legislation
introduced by the Government today (14 December), improving the
welfare of thousands of animals.
The legislation brings in a licensing scheme setting strict rules
to ensure that only private keepers who can provide the highest
welfare standards will be able to keep primates.
It is estimated that up to 5,000 primates are kept as pets in the
UK. These wild animals have complex welfare and social needs and,
according to most experts, cannot be properly cared for in a
domestic setting.
Under the changes, introduced via secondary legislation under the
Animal Welfare Act 2006, it will no longer be possible to keep
primates in domestic settings as household pets in environments
that fail to provide for their needs.
Licensing is expected to come into force in 2026, subject to
parliamentary processes, with existing keepers having two years
from the SI being approved to reach compliance with the licensing
conditions.
The new laws deliver on a manifesto commitment and builds on the
recent primate consultation. It is already an offence to keep a
primate while not providing for their welfare needs, or to cause
them unnecessary suffering. Today’s announcement tightens these
rules further – and all private primate keepers will be required
to hold a licence, issued by their local authority. Failure to
comply with the law could result in an unlimited fine or removal
of the primate.
Primates are highly intelligent and require open spaces, varied
diets, social contact and stimulation.
Animal Welfare Minister Douglas-Miller said:
“Primates are intelligent and curious animals and we’re
delivering on our pledge to ban the keeping of these inquisitive
creatures as pets.
“It is already an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to keep a
primate while not providing for their welfare needs or to cause
them unnecessary suffering, and these plans will tighten the
rules further.
“We have consistently led the world in raising the bar for animal
welfare standards and this legislation is yet another step.”
Licences will be valid for a maximum of three years, with at
least one inspection per licensing period. Licence holders must
undergo re-assessment to renew their permission to keep these
animals.
Guidance will be provided to local authorities on how to measure
the new standards at inspection to ensure the highest level of
welfare is being maintained.
Dr Ros Clubb, head of the RSPCA’s Wildlife Department said:
“We warmly welcome this UK Government commitment to end the
keeping of primates as pets.
“The RSPCA has been calling for a complete ban on the keeping and
trade of primates as pets for many years as these animals are
intelligent, sentient and highly social - with complex needs that
simply cannot be met in a domestic environment.
“Our inspectors and rescuers regularly see primates that have
been kept as pets with behaviour problems and very poor health,
especially Metabolic Bone Disease (rickets in humans), as a
result of totally inappropriate care. We hope this will put an
end to the shocking situations we have seen - with monkeys cooped
up in bird cages, fed fast food, sugary drinks or even Class A
drugs, deprived of companions of their own kind, living in dirt
and squalor and suffering from disease.
“We look forward to working with the UK Government to ensure that
the proposed licensing system can be adequately enforced, and
will be robust enough to effectively protect the welfare of
primates that remain with private keepers until the end of their
natural lives.”
The UK was the first country in the world to introduce animal
cruelty offences and are the highest ranked G7 nation according
to World Animal Protection's Index. Our flagship Action
Plan for Animal Welfare committed us to going even further to
protect animals, including banning primates as pets and banning
the export of live animals .
The Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Bill – which is only
possible now we have left the European Union – which was
introduced in Parliament last week and will put an end to the
export of live animals for slaughter and fattening from Great
Britain, stopping animals enduring unnecessary stress, exhaustion
and injury on long journeys.
Since publishing the Action Plan for Animal Welfare in 2021, we
have brought in new laws to recognise animals sentience
introduced tougher penalties for animal cruelty offences;
extended the ivory ban to cover other ivory bearing species; and
supported legislation to ban glue traps, the import of detached
shark fins and measures to ban the advertising and offering for
sale of low welfare activities abroad.
ENDS
Notes to editors
- This announcement follows a consultation earlier this year on
the introduction of the licensing regime as well as the
primate-keeping welfare standards. A summary of responses to that
consultation has been published today - Primate licensing scheme - GOV.UK
(www.gov.uk)
