Roadside attractions and unaccredited roadside zoos in the US and elsewhere often keep non-human primates in conditions that cause profound welfare harm. Understanding the scale of this problem highlights gaps in regulatory protection.
Primates in roadside attractions and private ownership suffer harms rooted in their cognitive and social complexity. Solitary confinement denies the complex social bonds fundamental to primate wellbeing and causes stereotypic behaviours, self-injury, and profound psychological distress. Infant primates removed from mothers to be tame for public interaction experience attachment trauma with lifelong welfare consequences. The intelligence that makes primates charismatic and profitable as attractions also makes their suffering in inadequate conditions more intense. Regulatory gaps mean that in many US states, any individual can acquire a primate with no welfare checks. Sanctuaries providing refuge for these animals require sustained community support.