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Labour policy clamps down on bananas primate owners

A LABOUR government will liberate lemurs and free the marmosets: the party announced sweeping pledges yesterday on keeping and trading pet primates.

The policy promise would mean a clampdown on the estimated 5,000 primates kept as pets such as marmosets, capuchins, squirrel monkeys and lemurs.

Labour says that these animals are highly intelligent, social animals that are far too similar to humans to be kept in captivity, and that primates taken from their mothers at a young age are liable to become depressed and psychologically unwell.

Current legislation says that animal owners must prevent “unnecessary suffering,” but the party has said that this is impossible to enforce.

Shadow environment minister Luke Pollard said: “It is astonishing that it is still entirely legal to keep primates as pets, regardless of how endangered or dangerous the animal is.

“Anyone can browse the internet and buy a primate with little or no checks and inspections.

“Labour will ban people from keeping pet primates as part of our plans to bring Britain’s animal welfare laws into the 21st century.”

An RSPCA spokeswoman told the Star: “The RSPCA has been calling for a complete ban on the keeping and trade of primates as pets, so we would welcome any policy which aims to achieve that.

“We don’t believe that primates should be kept as pets because their needs simply cannot be met in a domestic environment.

“They are intelligent, sentient and highly social animals with complex needs.”

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