FOUR PAWS UK is delighted that this important legislation has now become law.  We have been campaigning on this issue for almost a decade and we are grateful to the Government for hearing our concerns and making good on its manifesto commitment to protect primates. 

 

Keeping a primate as a pet is irresponsible, inappropriate and cruel, and domestic set ups cannot possibly match those that a wild animal should be able to access. It is the animal that suffers.  

 

However, we are concerned that this important law will not come into effect until 2026, and that means that the many primates kept as pets across the country will continue to suffer in poor conditions until then.  

 

We hope that the Government will move swiftly to introduce a comprehensive road map to protect those primates already kept as pets and use its influence on the global stage to ensure international counterparts, too, can strive to introduce legislation that works to end the ludicrous notion that primates can be pets.

Sonul Badiani-Hamment, Country Director, FOUR PAWS UK