Primates kept as pets suffer profound welfare harms from inadequate social housing, inappropriate environments, and the inevitable behavioral problems that arise as they mature.
Primate pets face welfare harms that begin before they even reach their first owner. Infant primates are typically separated from mothers prematurely — traumatic for both animals — to create the tractable babies buyers desire. As they mature, their increasing cognitive complexity, physical strength, and behavioral needs overwhelm typical domestic settings. The result is often a solitary, impoverished life in a cage, or surrender to already-overcrowded sanctuaries. No domestic setting can provide the social, cognitive, and spatial requirements of these animals.