Further understanding the pet primate trade in the U.S.

Abstract

Further understanding the pet primate trade in the U.S. Dr Melissa Seaboch explores the potential drivers of the pet primate trade in the U.S. and the troubling impact on both animals and owners. Little is known about the pet primate trade in the United States and other non-habitat countries. It is widely reported that there are 15,000 pet primates in the U.S., but the source of this statistic is unknown. For comparison, up to 7,500 pet primates are licensed in the United Kingdom. This number does not include marmosets, the most commonly kept pet primate in the U.K. and the U.S., so there may be as many as 20,000 pet primates in the U.K.(1, 2) To better understand the prevalence of pet primate ownership in the U.S., we initially collected advertisements offering pet primates for sale from six exotic pet websites over a year. (3) We found advertisements for over 550 primates for sale, with marmosets and lemurs being the most common. This underestimates the number of pet primates because we only sampled a small number of websites. Pet primates are also for sale through other outlets, including websites, private and commercial breeders, social media, auctions, and pet stores.