Primate, a new horror movie featuring a pet chimpanzee as the villain, will be featured at movie theaters across the United States this weekend. According to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB), the plot centers on a family in Hawaii who have a pet chimpanzee named Ben. When the father is called away to work, the teenaged kids take advantage of an empty house and throw a party. The party, however, takes a dangerous turn when they realize that Ben was bitten by a rabid animal, and the previously “gentle-natured” primate becomes an animal they do not recognize. The group then must work together to try to figure out how to escape.
While this new movie undoubtedly will sensationalize the idea of owning a primate as a pet through the visuals and storyline, luckily, the film did not use a live chimp to create the movie. Instead, Ben was brought to life with animatronics and a human performer in a costume. The hair-raising plot, however, strikes a chord that is all too familiar to primate pet owners around the world – and those of us who run primate sanctuaries.
Fear Is a Common Experience among People who Keep Primates as Pets
At the Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary located in south Texas, where we have rescued dozens of primates from the pet trade, one constant has remained among almost every single owner that has dropped off their pet in hopes of restoring their personal sanity and safety: fear.
No matter how small, “docile,” or trainable primates seem when they enter the pet trade (often as infants), they will inevitably become unpredictable as they grow older and mature into the wild animal they evolved to be.
Research has shown that the more frequently someone is exposed to close contact situations with wild animals, the more they believe that the animals are not dangerous. This relationship is particularly problematic in the exotic pet trade, which capitalizes on the false beliefs that people can give these animals a good quality life in captivity and that these animals will do them no harm.
The restrictive nature of keeping a primate in captivity – often due to extreme space limitations where they cannot move freely and social isolation from other primates – causes pet primates to feel considerable levels of stress and anxiety, which can manifest as aggression towards the people who live alongside them.
We have directly observed examples of some of the most devastating outcomes that can result from keeping primates as pets. For example, Buck was a “pet” chimpanzee who was shot in the head and killed by a police officer in Pendleton, Oregon, in 2021 after he attacked and injured his owner Tamara’s daughter. Similarly, Travis was a “pet” chimpanzee who was raised by a woman named Sandra in Stamford, Connecticut. In 2009, he attacked and mauled Sandra’s friend, Charla Nash. He blinded Charla, severing several body parts and lacerating her face before he was shot and killed by a responding police officer when Sandra begged him to “shoot Travis in the head.”
The Captive Primate Safety Act Would Outlaw the Keeping of Primates as Pets
Fortunately for the actors in Primate, their experience was pure make believe. It is all too common, however, for primate pet owners to truly live in fear every day that their animal will attack them or their loved ones. This is why many monkeys we have rescued from the primate pet trade have had their teeth pulled out, spent all their adult years trapped in a small bird cage, or suffered from extreme abuse or neglect. Although the movie is set in Hawaii, owning primates as pets there is illegal. In the rest of the U.S., owning primates is legal in approximately 50% of all U.S. states.
Legislation to bridge this gap in public safety and animal welfare is in the works in the form of the Captive Primate Safety Act, which would federally ban the private ownership of most primate species across the country. Join us in reaching out to your local lawmakers to let them know that you support this legislation, and that they should, too, to prevent more tragic horror stories from coming to life.
Speak Out in Support of the Captive Primate Safety Act!
Keep Wildlife in the Wild,
Devan
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The Born Free USA Team
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