New law restricts pet monkey ownership
Welfare of primates set to improve as private keepers in England will soon require a licence
Following years of campaigning by the RSPCA, legislation introduced recently by the government will mean tighter future controls on the domestic keeping of primates. There are up to 5,000 pet primates in the UK, the most common being marmoset monkeys, which typify why primates make unsuitable pets. Marmosets are intelligent, social and long-lived creatures, more suited to group life, roaming free and eating a varied diet in South American forests. They also scentmark, spreading a musky aroma not welcome in a human home. A marmoset kept alone, eating a limited diet in a small domestic space can suffer severe stress and other health problems. RSPCA inspectors regularly report seeing pet primates with behaviour problems and poor health, especially metabolic bone disease (rickets in humans) due to inappropriate care.
From April 2026, all private primate keepers in England will need to be licensed through their local authority, subject to an inspection of animals and premises to assess welfare standards. Licensees will need at least one further inspection during a three-year period. If they fail to meet the same welfare standards found in zoos, they will face a fine or have the primate removed from their care. Effectively the legislation bans the practice of keeping primates as pets. Acknowledging the government’s commitment to end domestic primate keeping, Ros Clubb, head of the RSPCA’s wildlife department, says she hopes this will “put an end to the shocking situations we have seen, with monkeys cooped up in birdcages, fed fast-food, sugary drinks and even class A drugs, deprived of companions of their own kind, living in squalor and suffering from disease.” There is still a need, she adds, for ministers to set out how the welfare needs of monkeys will be met once the new law comes into force.
The Welsh government is now consulting on licensing private keepers. Kenny Taylor