AAVS News
May 29, 2025
Help End the Pet Primate Trade: It’s Cruel!
Tell Congress Primates Are Not Pets
Primates are wild animals, and keeping them as pets is cruel and dangerous. To help prevent the suffering that inevitably comes with this senseless exploitation, the Captive Primate Safety Act is a bill that would stop people from owning pet primates (apes, monkeys, lemurs) by prohibiting their sale, breeding, and possession.
Often taken from their mothers soon after birth, primates suffer tremendously as victims of the exotic pet trade. Baby primates may look cute and cuddly, but they soon grow strong and become more aggressive as they start acting on their natural, wild instincts. Owners will then often confine the monkeys to small cages and have their teeth pulled. Denying social animals like primates the opportunity to live in natural family groups—especially during the first months and years of their lives—is extremely harmful, causing psychological damage and lifelong scars.
A few lucky ones may make it to sanctuary, but oftentimes these facilities are also caring for primates who have been released from labs. Sanctuary resources are always strained, so the best way to end the problem is to stop the flow. The Captive Primate Safety Act would reduce this burden on sanctuaries by preventing the trade of primates as pets. Primates belong in the wild, living in large family groups, not isolated in small cages with only human contact—it’s cruel!
Other News
The Cruelty Dogs Endure for Research
In his “Animal Emotions” blog, ethologist Marc Bekoff, Ph.D., along with Jane Goodall, Ph.D., exposes the cruel realities suffered by dogs bred for and used in research. Although the Animal Welfare Act was created to help protect animals in labs, lack of oversight and enforcement enable the suffering to continue, including for dogs who are often used in painful testing despite the availability of alternatives.
Organ-on-a-Chip Alternatives, Benefits, Challenges
While the U.S. Government Accountability Office has written reports about non-animal alternatives in the past, this may be the first time it has focused on a specific type, pointing to the valuable potential of organ-on-a-chip (OOC) technology, which uses human cells to simulate organ function and provides more relevant data than animal tests. Challenges that must be addressed to continue advancing OOCs include validation, regulatory uncertainties, and limited access to high-quality human cells.
Sanctuary Moment
Chimp Haven
Chimp Haven, one of our longtime sanctuary grant recipients, is celebrating its 30th anniversary! Home to 300 chimpanzees, the sanctuary was established specifically to provide a home for chimps owned or supported by the National Institutes of Health who were retired and no longer needed for research.
As part of its 30th anniversary celebration, Chimp Haven shared a video about Rita and Teresa, the very first chimpanzees to arrive at the sanctuary, as recalled by the people who worked so hard to make their new start in life a reality. Be sure to check it out!
We are extremely appreciative of Chimp Haven’s unwavering dedication to caring for hundreds of chimpanzees formally used in research. AAVS is grateful to play a small role in helping these chimpanzees by supporting Chimp Haven through our Sanctuary Fund grant program. It’s been rewarding to see these very special animals get to live the chimp life!