08/27/2024
Say no to H.R.8164 🛑
This bill doesn’t only affect us as responsible owners, it will drastically affect the primates themselves.
This bill takes more away from them, than legislators understand. Primates are an extremely social, and intelligent species. Naturally, they live in troops creating a hierarchy. They help each other raise their young, they groom each other, they mourn losses, they form very strong connections. If this bill passes, current owners are grandfathered in.. however, only for the primates currently in their care. What this means is, if a primate looses its companion due to age, health, or any unforeseen circumstances.. this bill has then forced the living primate to be isolated for the rest of its life as the owner will not be able to take in another primate companion. Did you know primates in captivity live almost DOUBLE their lifespan? Meaning most primate species can live well into their 40s or longer? Can you imagine being isolated for a year? 5 years? 25 years? Say no to the Captive Primate Safety Act.
Primates form strong bonds with their owners, their keepers, and those who care for them on a daily basis. Did you know theirs an estimated 15,000 primates kept privately, not including the most commonly kept marmoset? Though owners will be grandfathered in, for keeping the ones they already own. They will have to register each and every one of them with agency’s. As of now, the bill would grandfather current owners. But what happens if an owner passes away? Would they be able to be passed onto another family member or child? These primates risk being taken away from everything they have known. They risk being taken away and separated from their troops, their keepers, their enclosures. And put where? Do AZA zoos really have the space or desire to take on the large amount in captivity? The answer is no. Say no to the Captive Primate Safety Act.
This act will prevent primates from crossing state lines.. did you know many of us will travel far and wide to make sure our primates get the BEST vet care for their needs? The best surgeons for major surgery’s? (With the proper permits for varying states of course) this bill could prevent them from receiving life saving care.
Some of the most rare species are kept in private collections, a majority of larger zoos get access to these animals via private owners. This bill will risk many endangered species populations and prevent breeding, again, an extremely important part of their natural behavior is living in a troop. This bill will not benefit primates.
They are pushing shows like Chimp Crazy to help get pressure on this bill passing. I’m asking that you either don’t watch it so the rankings go down, or watch it and realize that’s the minority not the majority as well as the fact that a chimp is much different than a capuchin, macaque, vervet, or any other commonly owner species. My daily life is revolved around primates, they live in large natural enclosures. They eat better than we do, with fresh fruit, produce, protein and monkey biscuits daily. I have multiple vets on hand. I have lock downs, barriers, winter housing, thousands of dollars into their care. I have a passion, one that could end if bills like this one continue to pass. They won’t stop at primates, just like they didn’t stop at big cats. They will continue to go down the list. Equine, macropods, dangerous reptiles. I promise you they won’t stop.
If you enjoy going to zoos, if you enjoy hands on interactions that some facility’s offer (this bill will end encounters), if you enjoy seeing rare endangered species repopulate and do extremely well in captivity, if you have a passion for exotic animals or animals in general, or if you simply respect facility’s like mine, and many others and what they do for animal care… email your legislators, your congressmen. Voice your concerns, your VALID concerns. We cannot let this act pass, we need to protect those we care for daily and we need an army behind us to do it.
This bill is backed by a majority of democrats, they need to understand the true effect this bill will have. They need to understand what they will be ending. This bill has almost passed before, but Covid put a hault to it. With the agenda they are pushing now, it has a lot more force behind it. We need to be loud, we need to stand up, and we need to EDUCATE. Educate them on why they shouldn’t vote yes.