Update (February 24, 2015): The House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources declined to consider this bill. That means it is now dead.
Update (February 10, 2015): This bill was amended in committee, and weakened through broader exemptions. The amended version passed the Senate.
Bill Description:
No person shall possess, sell, transfer, or breed any nonhuman primate.[teaserbreak]
Exemptions:
• A person who possesses a valid exhibitor’s license issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture or a valid exhibition permit issued by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries
• A person who receives a primate as a result of the death of a person possessing a primate under the above exemptions
• Research facilities as defined under the Animal Welfare Act
• Circuses
• Wildlife sanctuaries
• Veterinary hospitals
• Law enforcement purposes
• Temporary transit (24 hours or less) through the state
This bill also grandfathers in those who possessed a primate prior to July 1, 2015 as long as they meet all the requirements laid out in the bill, which includes registering and paying an annual registration fee.
Background:
This bill will ban the ownership of primates by individuals. Virginia law currently regulates ownership of big cats, bears and dangerous reptiles but not primates.
Read about the cruelty and danger of keeping primates in homes here.
Primates are a serious threat to public safety, as illustrated by this sample of incidents from our exotic pets database:
• A Rhesus monkey Spunky was captured while running loose in the yard of a Spartanburg couple’s home and brought to Spartanburg Animal Shelter, in June 2008.
• A “pet” monkey bit a teenage girl at Dogwood Dell in Byrd Park, in July 2008.
• A Chesapeake veteran was attacked by his service monkey and severely injured when he accidentally stepped on him, in March 2010.
• A 30-pound male java macaque bit and attacked his owner in Franklin when the owner rolled over on him in bed, in April 2011.
Read the full text here.