Law amends exemptions to primate ownership

A chimpanzee sits in garbage in a private menagerie in Texas. arkansas house bill 1551 amends exemptions put in place in 2013 to the state’s law on primate possession.
A chimpanzee sits in garbage in a private menagerie in Texas. arkansas house bill 1551 amends exemptions put in place in 2013 to the state’s law on primate possession.

A House bill amending Arkansas’ law on possessing primates, primate ownership and breeding in Arkansas by private individuals became law April 8.

PASSAGE

In 2013, the Arkansas Legislature passed House Bill 1391, a bill that prohibited private possession of apes, baboons and macaques, as well as required the registration of all primates and prohibited public contact with those in private possession. That bill, introduced by Rep. Warwick Sabin, D-Little Rock, passed the House overwhelmingly and the Senate unanimously. Through HB1931, these animals were added to a list that already included animals such as lions and bears.

House Bill 1551, filed this year, was passed by the House on a vote of 83-3. It then went to the Senate, where it failed to pass on a vote of 16-9. Following the first failure, it was expunged and brought before the Senate again, where it was read for a third time and failed again with a vote of 10-11. After the second Senate vote, it was expunged again and the rules were suspended, and it passed the Senate with a vote of 18-4.

ACCREDITATION

HB1551, which was sent to the governor’s office April 2, was filed as “an act to amend the exemptions of prohibited activities associated with nonhuman primates; and for other purposes” by allowing accreditation by the Zoological Association of America and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. It was introduced by Rep. Dan Douglas, R-Bentonville.

“The change could allow for all sorts of businesses to open and operate in the state of Arkansas to own and breed primates,” Little Rock Zoo spokesman Susan Altrui says. “What troubles us is that the bill is written to say an exemption to Arkansas’ current primate law will now exist for ‘a zoological accreditation agency, including without limitation to.’ This means that there is no limit to what accreditation ‘agency’ gets an exemption. There’s also no definition of what an accreditation agency is. In essence, any organization can now call themselves an accreditation agency and get around Arkansas’ primate law.”

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums was founded in 1924 and is considered the standard for zoos. The association supports breeding programs based upon genetics, which are managed by species survival plans. The association encourages people to avoid direct animal contact. The association’s accreditation was the only one allowed for zoos in Arkansas under the 2013 law. The Little Rock Zoo is accredited by the association.

Opponents of HB1551 say the Zoological Association of America does not meet the same standards or share the same mission as the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

Nicole Paquette, vice president of wildlife protection at the Humane Society of the United States, says many of the non-Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ accredited agencies have members who are exotic-pet owners, roadside-zoo owners or have private menageries. Like Altrui, she says she is concerned that the law will open the door for any group claiming to be an accrediting body.

SAFETY

“If a primate were to get loose in a rural area, you would have a public safety situation on your hands, where a local sheriff’s office or police department would be called out to contain the animal,” Altrui says. “Great apes such as chimpanzees, the most common type of primate found at private facilities or as pets, are very dangerous and can inflict serious harm to humans and even kill them.”

Paquette shares some of Altrui’s safety concerns.

“Primates are inherently wild and unpredictable,” Paquette says. “Chimpanzees are extremely dangerous.”

Paquette says there have been approximately 300 cases of people who have been injured in 43 states since 1990 by captive primates. The most famous case of a chimpanzee attack in the U.S. is the 2009 case of Charla Nash, who was mauled and was blinded by her friend’s pet chimpanzee, Travis.

Paquette says if a pet primate escapes, it will often seek out humans because that is who it has depended on for food.

“It never ends well for the chimp or the human,” Paquette says. She says that many people try to raise them like babies, going so far as to dress them in diapers, but once they hit puberty, the primates change. With the onset of mating age, they tend to get more aggressive and violent, she says.

“We’ve had situations where the owner was afraid of the primate,” Paquette says.

Paquette says that local and county ordinances can still be made prohibiting certain animals and that due to the variety of state laws across the U.S., it’s nearly impossible to keep track of the animals. She says some states require registration, others don’t and some have no laws regulating them at all.

Paquette says there is also a disease concern.

“Ninety percent of adult macaque monkeys carry herpes B,” Paquette says. “They often don’t show signs. It is spread through bodily fluids and bites.”

Altrui says Arkansas had an incident in 2013. “A macaque monkey escaped from a veterinary clinic in Conway in 2013, and an officer that was trying to contain the monkey was bitten by the animal,” Altrui says. “The officer had to undergo testing because macaque monkeys can carry deadly diseases such as the B virus and other viruses that can be potentially fatal to humans.”

Contact Joseph via email (joseph@syncweekly.com)

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