Primate Trade Research Articles

Welfare of pet primates for sale in the United States

Welfare of pet primates for sale in the United States Dr. Melissa Seaboch, Professor and Department Chair at Salt Lake Community College, charts the welfare of pet primates for sale in the United States. Despite their unsuitability as pets, there are thousands, if not tens of thousands, of pet primates in the United States (1), and the U.S. ranks third out of 171 countries in the ease of purchasing a pet primate online. (2) Though the pet primate trade is robust, there are few federal regulations addressing the care of companion animals or pets. The Animal Welfare Act (AWA), often considered the minimum acceptable standard for animal care and use, governs the care of animals in multiple settings, including research labs, zoos, and commercial breeding facilities. PACT (Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture) prevents the most egregious forms of animal cruelty, and the Lacey Act addresses interstate transportation and illegal wildlife trafficking. (3) None of these regulations address the care or welfare of pet primates.

Investigating the Extent and Nature of the Primate Pet Trade on TikTok

With the online wildlife trade and the demand for viral videos increasing, the trade in primates on TikTok is becoming more prevalent. Despite wildlife trading being banned on most social media platforms, the trade in primates persists. TikTok’s policies ban the sale of live animals, and specific terms related to wildlife trading are banned; however, these search-term bans are easy to get around, and sellers are still prolific on the site. This study documented primates for sale on TikTok using the search term “for sale monkey” over a four-month period (from mid-July to mid-November 2023) with the aim of determining how widespread primate trade is on TikTok, the legality of advertisements, and which countries advertise the most primates for sale. In total, 43 individual advertisements were identified, spanning six different genera of primates and five different countries. Spider monkeys, rhesus macaques, and common marmosets were found to be the most commonly advertised species on TikTok. All the spider monkeys were advertised from the USA, while the majority of the marmosets were advertised from the UK, and all of the rhesus macaques were advertised from Pakistan. The USA was the only country identified in this study that advertised a range of species, and the only species found in this study that was not advertised in the USA was the mona monkey. In total, 44% of all species recorded were classified as either Endangered or Critically Endangered, and it was found that Endangered species were more frequently sold illegally than non-Endangered species. The findings of this study underline a need for stricter primate legislation and wildlife law enforcement, especially if the UN’s sustainable development goals are to be achieved by 2030. They also show a need for TikTok to broaden their restrictions on wildlife trading on their app.

Zoonoses Tuberculosis Risk from Non-Human-Primate Trade and Movement: Preventive Measure Perspective

The trade in non-human primates (NHPs) is economically profitable in both local and global markets. However, it also poses a significant threat of disease transmission between NHPs and humans, particularly zoonotic tuberculosis, which is frequently reported in NHPs. Due to the high similarity between NHPs and humans, they share many pathogens. As a potential hub for NHP trade, Indonesia needs to enhance its knowledge and preventive measures to manage tuberculosis transmission related to NHPs trade and movement. Legislation at both international and national levels has been established to address the prevention of tuberculosis infection from NHPs. In addition to legislative measures, effective prevention also relies on implementing screening and detection protocols, as well as maintaining good biosecurity practices during handling NHPs.

Perspectives on Conservation Impacts of the Global Primate Trade

The global trade in nonhuman primates represents a substantial threat to ecosystem health, human health, and primate conservation worldwide. Most of the primate trade involves trade for pet-keeping, consumption, or biomedical experimentation. We present an overview of international primate trade through five case studies; each describes a different facet of this trade. We draw on published scientific literature, media outlets, and open access datasets, including the CITES Trade Database to build these case studies. Case study 1 describes the role of introduced island populations of Macaca and Chlorocebus in trade for biomedical experimentation; case study 2 covers the global health threats posed by the primate trade, including zoonotic disease transmission once animals enter the trade pipeline; case study 3 addresses the ways that changing patterns of primate trade, from local markets to online, have increased the demand for primates as pets; case study 4 recognizes the role that local environmental activism can play in mitigating trade; and case study 5 shows variation between global regions in their contribution to the primate trade. We recommend greater oversight of primate trade, especially domestic trade within primate range countries, and real-time reporting to CITES to accurately track primate trade. Effective conservation-focused regulations that can minimise the negative effects of primate trade must be tailored to specific regions and species and require transparency, careful regulation, field research, and an understanding of the magnitude of this trade.

Cultural roles of primates in an Amazonian urban center

Primate species in the Neotropics are undergoing increasing anthropogenic threats, including unsustainable trade and consumption by rapidly urbanizing communities. Yet the diverse cultural and symbolic factors contributing to primate trade and consumption are understudied, which inhibits the design of sound conservation policies for regulating primate utilization. In this scoping study, we administered an online survey seeking to characterize the ecological, market-based, and symbolic roles of primates in Iquitos, Peru, a rapidly urbanizing center of the Peruvian Amazon. We assessed the salience of each inferred taxa and frequencies of respondents indicating different roles that primates play in the urban system. Results suggest that primate species across sixteen inferred genera and five families play diverse cultural roles in the city of Iquitos, including as food (subsistence and consumption as traditional practice), for use as body parts or live individuals, depictions in art and stories, and as symbols to attract tourists to businesses and to promote conservation. The most salient species based on survey responses also held high conservation value (i.e. were Endangered or Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List). These preliminary findings suggest that conservation measures aimed at reducing primate trade by targeting economic incentives and commercial flows alone may be ineffective in culturally diverse Amazon cities. Future research should assess the potential to leverage primate symbolic values and meanings in conservation efforts in light of increased rural–urban migration, infrastructure development, and tourism in the urbanizing Amazon.

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

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.

Global online trade in primates for pets

The trade in primates as pets is a global enterprise and as access to the Internet has increased, so too has the trade of live primates online. While quantifying primate trade in physical markets is relatively straightforward, limited insights have been made into trade via the Internet. Here we followed a three-pronged approach to estimate the prevalence and ease of purchasing primates online in countries with different socioeconomic characteristics. We first conducted a literature review, in which we found that Malaysia, Thailand, the USA, Ukraine, South Africa, and Russia stood out in terms of the number of primate individuals being offered for sale as pets in the online trade. Then, we assessed the perceived ease of purchasing pet primates online in 77 countries, for which we found a positive relationship with the Internet Penetration Rate, total human population and Human Development Index, but not to Gross Domestic Product per capita or corruption levels of the countries. Using these results, we then predicted the levels of online primate trade in countries for which we did not have first-hand data. From this we created a global map of potential prevalence of primate trade online. Finally, we analysed price data of the two primate taxa most consistently offered for sale, marmosets and capuchins. We found that prices increased with the ease of purchasing primates online and the Gross Domestic Product per capita. This overview provides insight into the nature and intricacies of the online primate pet trade and advocates for increased trade regulation and monitoring in both primate range and non-range countries where trade has been substantially reported.

The impact of sanctuary visits on children's knowledge and attitudes toward primate welfare and conservation.

Primate sanctuaries provide a solution for the increasing number of primates being taken from their home countries to support the demands of the illegal pet trade. To help end the primate trade and raise awareness about the risks this trade poses to delicate ecosystems, sanctuaries are increasingly developing conservation education programs. Education and raising awareness must be one of the primary roles of primate sanctuaries. However, there are few evaluations of the impacts of conservation education programs for school children published in scientific literature. To address this gap, we conducted an evaluation of educator-led visits of school children at Fundació Mona, a primate sanctuary located in Catalunya, Spain. Questionnaires for an experimental and control group were conducted with 3,205 school children, ages 8 to 18 from 83 different schools, to evaluate changes in their attitudes and knowledge of primate welfare and conservation. We found that Fundació Mona's program of environmental activities had a positive impact on children, both female and male students, in terms of attitudes and knowledge of primate welfare and conservation. Although female students gave better responses regarding welfare and conservation, all children showed gains in pro-conservation responses. This study demonstrates that environmental education activities focused on children can help shape a change in knowledge and attitudes toward primate welfare and conservation. Educator-led visits of school children to primate sanctuaries such as Fundació Mona can also serve to amplify biodiversity conservation messages among children and their families. We encourage primate sanctuaries to promote empirical studies of attitudes and knowledge of primate welfare and conservation and to conduct systematical evaluations to strengthen their educational activities.

Insights into the primate trade into the European Union and the United Kingdom

Illegal and/or unsustainable trade is a major obstacle to effective primate conservation. The wildlife trade in the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) is significant, but for many species, such as primates, the trade is poorly understood and sparsely reported. All EU countries are Party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES); all primates are listed on Appendix I or II of CITES and are included on Annex A or B of Regulation (EC) No 338/97. We here combine data from several databases (CITES, UN Comtrade, TRAFFIC WiTIS) and seizure reports, to provide a narrative of the trade in primates into and within Europe. The legal import of live primates (2002–2021) amounted to 218,000–238,000 individuals (valued at US$ 869 million), with France, the UK, and Spain as the main importers and Mauritius, Vietnam, and China as the main exporters. Over 21,000 primate parts (trophies, skulls, bodies) were imported mainly from African countries, and UN Comtrade data suggests that ~ 600 tonnes of primate meat was imported mainly from Asia. The vast majority of live primates are either captive-born or captive-bred, and this proportion has increased over time. Reports of the illegal primate trade are far from complete, but the illegal trade of specific species or primate meat can have negative impacts of wild populations of already imperiled species. Stronger policies and more effective enforcement in consumer countries, such as the EU, would also aid in, and garner support for, better protecting primates in primate range states.

Monetary Value of Live Trade in a Commonly Traded Primate, the Long-Tailed Macaque, Based on Global Trade Statistics

Non-human primates (primates) are regarded as key research subjects for pre-clinical trials of several drugs aimed to alleviate human suffering. It has long been suggested that the predominant species in the international trade in live primates for use in research is the long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis). However, little is still known about the value of this international trade. Whilst the international trade to supply the requirement for biomedical testing is known to encourage illegal wildlife trade, we lack a detailed understanding of the overall value and magnitude of this trade. Such information is vital to facilitate the design of effective conservation strategies in range countries, in order to mitigate the exploitation of wild populations by organized crime networks. Here, data from CITES and the UN Comtrade databases were combined to calculate the value of this trade. We also compared the number of individual primates traded as reported in the two databases to investigate possible correlations. Results show that, from 2010 to 2019, the international trade in long-tailed macaques constituted a market worth of ~US $1.25 billion. We found a positive correlation between individual primates traded in the UN Comtrade Database and individual long-tailed macaques reported in the CITES Trade Database, suggesting that we can use the UN Comtrade database to investigate values and magnitude of the international legal trade in wildlife, and that legal trade in live primates is primarily constituted of long-tailed macaques alone.

The human-primate interface in the New Normal: Challenges and opportunities for primatologists in the COVID-19 era and beyond.

The emergence of SARS‐CoV‐2 in late 2019 and human responses to the resulting COVID‐19 pandemic in early 2020 have rapidly changed many aspects of human behavior, including our interactions with wildlife. In this commentary, we identify challenges and opportunities at human–primate interfaces in light of COVID‐19, focusing on examples from Asia, and make recommendations for researchers working with wild primates to reduce zoonosis risk and leverage research opportunities. First, we briefly review the evidence for zoonotic origins of SARS‐CoV‐2 and discuss risks of zoonosis at the human–primate interface. We then identify challenges that the pandemic has caused for primates, including reduced nutrition, increased intraspecific competition, and increased poaching risk, as well as challenges facing primatologists, including lost research opportunities. Subsequently, we highlight opportunities arising from pandemic‐related lockdowns and public health messaging, including opportunities to reduce the intensity of problematic human–primate interfaces, opportunities to reduce the risk of zoonosis between humans and primates, opportunities to reduce legal and illegal trade in primates, new opportunities for research on human–primate interfaces, and opportunities for community education. Finally, we recommend specific actions that primatologists should take to reduce contact and aggression between humans and primates, to reduce demand for primates as pets, to reduce risks of zoonosis in the context of field research, and to improve understanding of human–primate interfaces. Reducing the risk of zoonosis and promoting the well‐being of humans and primates at our interfaces will require substantial changes from “business as usual.” We encourage primatologists to help lead the way.

Reducing the primate pet trade: Actions for primatologists.

This commentary emerged from a panel presentation at the International Primatological Society Congress in Nairobi, Kenya, 2018. The goal was to provide regional updates on the status of primate removal from habitat countries, especially for the pet trade, and develop guidelines that could help primatologists address this critical problem. The trade in live primates includes those used as pets, in entertainment, and as subjects of biomedical experimentation, but here we focus on those primates destined for the pet trade. Such transactions are a hugely lucrative business, impacting hundreds of thousands of individuals annually and affecting the survival of wild populations. Being intimately familiar with primate social behavior, life history and biology, primatologists, whether they work with captive or wild primates, are in a unique position to understand the nature of the trade and attempt to counter its effects. In addition to updating the status of the primate pet trade, we provide recommendations that may help primatologists formulate a plan to deal, locally and regionally, with illegal trafficking in live primates. General guidelines include increasing awareness of local customs, policies and laws; developing collaborative research opportunities for local people; engaging in training/informational opportunities; and instructing on how to take action when encountering illegally‐trafficked primates.

Applying systems thinking to inform studies of wildlife trade in primates.

Wildlife trade presents a major threat to primate populations, which are in demand from local to international scales for a variety of uses from food and traditional medicine to the exotic pet trade. We argue that an interdisciplinary framework to facilitate integration of socioeconomic, anthropological, and biological data across multiple spatial and temporal scales is essential to guide the study of wildlife trade dynamics and its impacts on primate populations. Here, we present a new way to design research on wildlife trade in primates using a systems thinking framework. We discuss how we constructed our framework, which follows a social-ecological system framework, to design an ongoing study of local, regional, and international slow loris (Nycticebus spp.) trade in Vietnam. We outline the process of iterative variable exploration and selection via this framework to inform study design. Our framework, guided by systems thinking, enables recognition of complexity in study design, from which the results can inform more holistic, site-appropriate, and effective trade management practices. We place our framework in the context of other approaches to studying wildlife trade and discuss options to address foreseeable challenges to implementing this new framework.

Multidisciplinary studies of wildlife trade in primates: Challenges and priorities.

Wildlife trade is increasingly recognized as an unsustainable threat to primate populations and informing its management is a growing focus and application of primatological research. However, management policies based on ecological research alone cannot address complex socioeconomic or cultural contexts as drivers of wildlife trade. Multidisciplinary research is required to understand trade complexity and identify sustainable management strategies. Here, we define multidisciplinary research as research that combines more than one academic discipline, and highlight how the articles in this issue combine methods and approaches to fill key gaps and offer a more comprehensive understanding of underlying drivers of wildlife trade including consumer demand, enforcement patterns, source population status, and accessibility of targeted species. These articles also focus on how these drivers interact at different scales, how trade patterns relate to ethics, and the potential effectiveness of different policy interventions in reducing wildlife trade. We propose priorities for future research on primate trade including expanding from multidisciplinary to interdisciplinary research questions and approaches co-created by research teams that integrate across different disciplines such as cultural anthropology, ecology, economics, and public policy. We also discuss challenges that limit the integration of information across disciplines to meet these priorities.

Changes in the primate trade in indonesian wildlife markets over a 25-year period: Fewer apes and langurs, more macaques, and slow lorises.

Indonesia has amongst the highest primate species richness, and many species are included on the country's protected species list, partially to prevent over-exploitation. Nevertheless traders continue to sell primates in open wildlife markets especially on the islands of Java and Bali. We surveyed 13 wildlife markets in 2012-2014 and combined our results with previous surveys from 1990-2009 into a 122-survey dataset with 2,424 records of 17 species. These data showed that the diversity of species in trade decreased over time, shifting from rare rainforest-dwelling primates traded alongside more widespread species that are not confined to forest to the latter type only. In the 1990s and early 2000s orangutans, gibbons and langurs were commonly traded alongside macaques and slow lorises but in the last decade macaques and slow lorises comprised the bulk of the trade. In 2012-2014 we monitored six wildlife markets in Jakarta, Bandung and Garut (all on Java), and Denpasar (Bali). During 51 surveys we recorded 1,272 primates of eight species. Traders offered long-tailed macaque (total 1,007 individuals) and three species of slow loris (228 individuals) in five of the six markets, whereas they traded ebony langurs (18 individuals), and pig-tailed macaques (14 individuals) mostly in Jakarta. Pramuka and Jatinegara markets, both in Jakarta, stood out as important hubs for the primate trade, with a clear shift in importance over time from the former to the latter. Slow lorises, orangutans, gibbons and some langurs are protected under Indonesian law, which prohibits all trade in them; of these protected species, only the slow lorises remained common in trade throughout the 25-year period. Trade in non-protected macaques and langurs is subject to strict regulations-which market traders did not follow-making all the market trade in primates that we observed illegal. Trade poses a substantial threat to Indonesian primates, and without enforcement, the sheer volume of trade may mean that species of Least Concern or Near Threatened may rapidly decline. Am. J. Primatol. 79:e22517, 2017. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Trade and ethnozoological use of African lorisiforms in the last 20 years

Trade in primates is considered a major impediment to primate conservation globally. The bushmeat trade in West and Central Africa is considered largely unsustainable and represents one of the main threats to biodiversity. Furthermore, the use of primates in traditional practices and medicine includes a third of the African primate species. Little is known about the trade in the African mainland lorisiforms; pottos, angwantibos and galagos. Aiming to fill this knowledge gap we created an online survey, conducted a literature review, and analyzed CITES trade records, focusing on the last two decades. We obtained 188 questionnaire responses from researchers and people working in 31 different countries in sub-Saharan Africa. We found a total of 33 publications reporting on trade in African lorisiforms, and CITES records indicate that almost 2000 lorisiforms were traded internationally from African range countries. Fifty-three percent of respondents provided meaningful details about aspects of the trade in African lorisiforms from 50% of the range countries. Galagos were reported by respondents in larger numbers than pottos and angwantibos, and mainly occurred in the pet trade. Pottos were the most frequently mentioned taxon in the literature, when all trade types were combined. Across all of the sources (online survey, literature and CITES database), trade in pottos and angwantibos was reported from 12 countries, and galagos from 23 countries. Trade was reported to occur mainly within rural settings (64%), potentially indicating that demand is not high enough to fuel long distance trading. However, as seen in the Asian lorisiforms, once quantitative studies were conducted, the threat that trade posed became alarmingly apparent and is now considered a major impediment to their conservation. Our insight into the trade of African lorisiforms should be followed up with concerted studies, with an emphasis on quantifying trade to the species level. Download the complete issue.

Diagnostic overview of the illegal trade in primates and law enforcement in Peru.

Peru has one of the richest primate faunas of any country. The illegal trade in wild primates is one of the largest threats to this fauna in Peru. We characterize the illegal trade in primates through empirical and ethnographic data. We collected data from traffic routes and centers throughout Peru and evaluate current efforts to combat this traffic. Based on our findings from 2,070 instances of wildlife crime involving 6,872 primates, we estimate the domestic trade in primates for pets and bushmeat in Peru in the hundreds of thousands per year, with the larger bodied Atelidae facing the highest direct consequences. We found that government authorities lack sufficient staff, capacity, resources, infrastructure, and protocols to efficiently combat illegal trade in primates. Also, the complicated legal framework and lack of cooperation and antagonism with the public further limit these efforts. Wildlife authorities in Peru are able to confiscate only a fraction of primates traded and mostly intervene in cases of private pet owners rather than traffickers. We estimate that the current rate of illegal trade in primates is comparable to levels of trade prior to the 1973 ban on primates' exportation. The combination of direct observations on primate trade and ethnographic data allows a comprehensive look at primate trade in Peru. We call upon decision makers and international funders to channel their efforts toward "on the ground" actions such as increasing the ability of the authorities to act, giving them "in action" training in law enforcement and establishing strict control measures against corruption. Am. J. Primatol. 79:e22516, 2017. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Centering Animals in Latin American History

Centering Animals in Latin American History

International commercial trade in live carnivores and primates 2006-2012: response to Bush et al. 2014.

International commercial trade in live carnivores and primates 2006-2012: response to Bush et al. 2014.

Primate conservation: measuring and mitigating trade in primates

Trade in primates is seen as a significant impediment to their conservation. Primates are traded both domestically and internationally, in order to supply, amongst others, biomedical industries and pharmaceutical markets, the entertainment business, or pet markets. Primate meat is consumed globally, whereas body parts are used as ingredients in traditional medicine or sold as curios. All international trade in primates is regulated through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), to which all but 2 primate range countries are signatory. The last 15 years has seen a linear increase in the export of live primates (each year 3500 more individuals are exported), with China being, numerically, the largest exporter. While the trade in live primates worldwide involves tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of individuals a year, the trade in dead primates involves millions of animals a year. We introduce here a series of studies dealing with various aspects of the primate trade. We hope that these studies will urge others to quantify the extent of trade in primates alive and dead in both domestic and international contexts, allowing us to find ways to mitigate the consequences of this trade to the conservation of primates.