Bill Description:
This bill allows primates to be used as service animals by people with disabilities.[teaserbreak]
Background:
Primates are not suitable to be kept as pets or used as service animals, and are not recognized as legal service animals under the Americans with Disabilities Act (more information here). Keeping a primate as a service (or “helper”) animal is not only cruel to the primate, who must endure a life of captivity, but is also dangerous to the disabled individual and others. Primates can spread viral, bacterial, fungal, and parasitic diseases that pose serious health risks to humans. For example, most macaque monkeys naturally carry the Herpes B virus, which is often fatal to humans.
There have been many incidents involving attacks and injuries inflicted by helper monkeys. For instance, in 2015, a pet marmoset kept as a service animal by a woman bit a Target employee in the store. See more in our Exotic Animal Incidents Database.
Take Action:
Louisiana residents, contact your state representative and urge him or her to oppose this legislation!
Read the full text and follow its progress here.