But Goodwin calls 15,000 a "best guess." And some of those animals have been involved in violent occurrences. ![]() because there is little regulation of the exotic pet industry. ![]() Goodwin said there is no accurate count of how many primates are currently being kept as pets in the U.S. Infant chimpanzees can sell for about $5,000 apiece. But John Goodwin, director of animal cruelty policy at the Humane Society, said buyers can skirt those laws by purchasing primates from exotic animal breeders they find online or at large exotic animal auctions. Currently, the Lacey Act puts such restrictions on big cats, such as lions and tigers.Īpproximately 25 states prohibit people from keeping some or all primates as pets. It would amend the Lacey Act by adding "nonhuman primates" to the list of animals that cannot be traded or transported across state lines as pets. She is also meeting with congressional staff to discuss the legislation, which has previously passed the U.S. Nash, who underwent face transplant surgery in 2011, is scheduled to appear at a news conference on Thursday in Washington with representatives of The Humane Society of the United States to press Congress to support the Captive Primates Safety Act. They're just too wild and dangerous when they get older." ![]() Nash, whose eyes were surgically removed after the attack, said chimpanzees "are not the type of animal that anyone should keep as a pet. The more awareness is made, the better off people will be," Nash told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "There are many people that know nothing about myself and what happened. HARTFORD - A Connecticut woman blinded and disfigured by a chimpanzee attack will visit Washington this week to urge the passage of rules to make it harder to keep primates as pets.Ĭharla Nash, who lost her nose, lips, eyelids and hands after she was mauled by her employer's 200-pound pet chimpanzee in 2009, said people who buy baby chimps would be wrong to think they will be harmless, childlike companions.
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