New Primate Safety Act Bans Private Ownership, Breeding, and Interstate Sale of Monkeys and Apes

The newly proposed Captive Primate Safety Act is straightforward: it makes it illegal to import, export, breed, sell, or possess certain nonhuman primates if the activity touches interstate or foreign commerce. Essentially, this bill slams the door shut on the private pet trade for monkeys, apes, lemurs, and their hybrids, officially adding them to the list of restricted wildlife under the Lacey Act.

End of the Exotic Pet Party

This law defines a “prohibited primate species” as any live, nonhuman primate. If passed, the core prohibitions—no selling, no buying, no acquiring—are immediately enforceable, even if the Secretary of the Interior is dragging their feet on writing the final enforcement rules (which they have 180 days to do). For the average person, this means that if you’ve ever thought about getting a capuchin monkey as a pet, this bill says, "Absolutely not, and we mean it."

The Grandfather Clause: Read the Fine Print

The bill understands that some people already own these animals. If you currently possess a primate born before this law is enacted, you might be able to keep it, but you have to jump through some serious hoops. First, you must register the animal with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service within 180 days of the law passing. Miss that deadline, and you’re likely out of compliance.

More importantly, this exception comes with strict conditions that essentially turn your pet into a non-breeding, non-commercial exhibit. You can’t breed the animal, you can’t sell it, and you absolutely cannot allow the public to have direct contact with it. This is a massive change for current owners. If you’ve been running a small roadside attraction or using your animal for educational shows, the commercial viability is gone overnight. You are now responsible for the animal's lifetime care without the ability to recoup costs through breeding or sales.

Who Gets a Pass?

There are two main exceptions. The first is simply transporting an animal quickly to another authorized person or facility—think moving a rescued animal to a sanctuary. The second exception is for established research facilities. If a facility already has a registration in good standing with the Department of Agriculture, they are allowed to continue their work involving registered prohibited primates. This provision ensures that necessary scientific research isn't halted, while still focusing the prohibition on the private and commercial pet trade.

The Cost of Compliance and Clarity

While the goal of restricting the private ownership of potentially dangerous animals is clear, the implementation places a heavy administrative burden on current owners. That 180-day registration window is tight, and the 'strict conditions' for possession aren't fully detailed in the bill itself. Those details will be hashed out by the Secretary of the Interior later, creating a period of legal uncertainty for current owners. If you own a primate now, you need to be glued to the Federal Register because the rules for keeping your animal are about to change drastically, and if you mess up the registration, you could lose your animal and face penalties. This bill is a clear signal: the federal government is moving to severely restrict who can own and interact with primates, focusing possession almost entirely within regulated research and sanctuary environments.