TR AV E L number varies depending on whether closely related groups are considered to be varieties of each other or distinct species. Most estimates are in the range of 230-270. The problem is the fact that every few years new kinds of primates are found. The tropical forests of South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia may still be hiding sub-species that are unknown to the scientific world. Many primate species are now in danger of becoming extinct. The primary cause is deforestation, driven ultimately by the ever-escalating human population growth. Additional pressure is placed on primate populations by humans hunting them as a food source (bush meat) and also by capturing and selling them into the pet trade. Despite the fact that the sale of “bush meat” is outlawed in most countries, it is now being sold illegally in Europe and North America and all over Asia. It can even be bought at stores that cater to African immigrants in Paris, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Montreal, and some other major cities including cities in South Africa. Monkeys and apes are our closest living relatives in the animal world and their facial features bear a striking resemblance to ours. As such, many individuals purchase baby monkeys/apes believing that these primates will be a suitable “substitute” or a “surrogate” for human children. Others are inundated with images of non-human primates in advertisements, on television and in the movies, which depict infants, and adolescent primates as “cute and cuddly”. Often the naive viewers are given the impression that non-human primates would make ideal ‘pets’. These individuals are - at best -misguided. The keeping of monkeys as pets is undoubtedly one of the worst scenarios that could befall them. It is unfortunate that monkeys and apes have become popular in the exotic animal ‘pet’ trade, and relatively easily obtainable. A quick search on the Internet alone reveals a few dozen web sites that currently specialize in selling baby monkeys and apes as pets. Though infant monkeys and apes (like all mammalian species) are completely dependent on their caretakers, nonhuman primates are not domesticated, and their instincts remain very much intact in captivity. Adult monkeys and apes exhibit aggression and instinctively bite and scratch when provoked. Individuals possessing primate species often attempt to change the nature of the monkey/ape rather than the nature of the care provided. Such tactics include confinement in small barren enclosures, chaining, shocking, beating “into submission,” or even painful mutilations, such as tooth and nail removal. Point is, non-human primates do not make good ‘pets’. They require special care, housing, diet, and need to live in well-structured family groups, something the average person cannot provide. When in the hands of private individuals, monkeys and apes typically suffer due to poor care, boredom and isolation. A life in a backyard, basement or garage cage cannot even begin to meet these very social primates’ instinctual needs and desires, such as seeking a mate, raising young, foraging, basking in the sun and establishing territories. Non-human primates are social animals, and they need to be around their own kind for healthy mental development. Human substitutes are not capable of fulfilling this need. Something else that needs to be mentioned is that baby monkeys and apes destined for the ‘pet’ trade are literally “pulled” away from their protective mothers when they are only hours or days old. Sadly, commercial gain (not compassion) is the breeder’s motivation. Infant monkeys/apes and their biological mothers typically
suffer depression from the forced separation. “Breeder” females are often purposely impregnated at a frequency which can be 4-6 times higher than the species would breed in natural circumstances, leading to serious and often fatal/ crippling abnormalities like hemorrhaging and severe bone mass depletion. Bottom-line: purchasing an infant primate is supporting an unscrupulous trade. The only “winner” in this scenario is the dealer or breeder who profited from selling the baby monkey/ape. Like all wild animals, monkeys, lemurs and apes should be living in their natural habitats, not in situations where humans attempt to force domestication on them. You can help by not becoming part of the problem. Educate yourself and your family and friends. Discourage those around you from contributing to the suffering inherent in the tragic ‘pet’ primate trade. You can also help primates by refusing to buy any product tested on animals. When buying wood products or products from rain forests and other primate habitat, make sure you seek out companies that use sustainable logging and farming practices. For example, palm oil plantations in Borneo are delving into orangutans’ natural habitat. Palm oil is used in things like soap, processed foods and personal care products. By checking labels on these products, you can make sure you’re not contributing to the destruction. Oppose the use of primates in entertainment such as movies, commercials, television shows, circuses and the like: don’t spend money on entertainment or products that exploit primates, or any animal for that matter. Avoid profiteers who use primates as photo props (sometimes found at tourist attractions especially in Asia). Support projects that protect primates in the wild and/or in natural habitats. Don’t visit roadside type zoos that keep primates in small cages. Don’t frequent markets that sell primates as pets or hotels that keep them, and always , where possible, educate others about the plight of primates. There is so much we can do to ensure that future generations will have the privilege to see primates as they should be living free and in a natural habitat. As Dr. Seuss said in The Lorax “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” Monkey-land and Birds of Eden are two separate sanctuaries situated next to each other and are a must see when you’re in Plettenberg Bay. •
CONTACT For more information about Monkeyland, please contact Lara Mostert in the marketing division: Tel: +27 44 534 8906 Cell: +27 82 979 5683 E-mail: info@monkeyland.co.za or visit Website: www.monkeyland.co.za Issue 4 / 2009
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