Why You Shouldn’t Raise A Primate At Home!
Despite all species being protected by wildlife protection law, the capture of primates is ongoing here in Vietnam and has played a major role in the critical decline of the country’s endemic species.
The pet trade is only one of the threats on the list, but it concerns most of the primates we have been rescuing over the years since the animals are kept alive and can be spotted by neighbors or relatives and denounced to the authorities before their life is at risk.
The irony of the pet trade flourishing is that it often relies on the ignorance (if not denial) of the buyer, in Asian and Western countries alike. The fact is, there is plenty of reasons not to keep a primate in your home. Let’s remind some of them:
1. It is illegal and if caught in Vietnam, you risk a prison sentence!
2. Primates can transmit a wide range of viruses, infections and what is called zoonotic diseases to humans and vice-versa, including hepatitis.
3. Unlike cats and dogs, it cannot be fully domesticated. The sweet baby will eventually grow up and become the super-strong, wild animal it was meant to be: screaming, biting and trying to escape.
4. If deprived of sufficient attention it can not only become extremely mischievous and destructive, but develop severe neuroses and irreversible behavior problems.
5. It can live more than 40 years and it is simply not possible for an individual to have sufficient resources, knowledge and time to take good care of it through all his life stages!
6. Last but not least, for one baby sold on the black market, a whole group of monkeys have most likely been killed in the hunters attempts to catch it, including its own mother.
Stop the demand could stop the vicious cycle of poaching and trade of threatened primates before they face total extinction. Please keep primates away from your home and report any wildlife crime by calling our ENV partner toll-free hotline number: 1800 1522.
— DON’T FORGET, YOU CAN HELP RESCUE THEM —
Call ENV’s national toll-free Wildlife Crime Hotline 1800 1522 to report a crime in Vietnam.
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