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House tightens fed controls over pet primate trade

By JIM ABRAMS

WASHINGTON (AP) — Eight days after a 200-pound chimpanzee critically
mauled a woman in Connecticut, the House moved Tuesday to ban the
transport of monkeys and apes across state lines for the purpose of
selling them as pets.

The legislation to prohibit interstate commerce in primates also
passed the House last year, but bill sponsor Rep. Earl Blumenauer,
D-Ore., said the "horrific chimpanzee attack" that stunned the nation
last week would bring "renewed urgency" to the need to pass the bill
into law.

The importation of primates for the pet trade has been outlawed since
1975, but Blumenauer said 30 states, including Connecticut, allow the
keeping of the animals as pets and it is easy to purchase a primate
from exotic animal dealers or over the Internet.

He said there have been at least 100 reports of attacks over the past
decade, 29 involving children.

The Humane Society of the United States, which supports the
legislation, said nonhuman primates can also pose serious health risks
to humans, spreading diseases such as Herpes B and tuberculosis.

"There is no reason for any private citizen to keep a primate as a
pet, and this trade is driven by unscrupulous dealers who sell
primates across state lines for thousands of dollars," said Wayne
Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society.

The measure passed 323-95, with several Republican opponents saying
that animal control was a state, rather than federal issue, and that
spending federal dollars to prevent interstate commerce would do
little to stop animal attacks.

The bill, said Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, does nothing to prohibit a
monkey from biting, such as in the Connecticut incident, "unless the
monkey was willing to chase the woman from Connecticut over to New
York State." He compared the 100 attacks over 10 years to the 100,000
people who go to the hospital every year with dog bites.

"I would respectfully suggest that having your face ripped off is not
the same as just an animal bite, a nip here or scratch there,"
Blumenauer said. "We are dealing with animals that have the potential
of inflicting serious damage and death." He estimated that up to 400
chimpanzees are kept as pets in the United States.

The 14-year-old chimp Travis, owned by 70-year old Sandra Herold of
Stamford, Conn., was shot and killed after a brutal 12-minute attack
on Herold's friend, Charla Nash.

Four teams of surgeons operated on Nash, 55, for more than seven hours
to stabilize her before she was transferred Thursday to the Cleveland
Clinic in Ohio. She remains under sedation while being evaluated by
doctors.

The bill amends the Lacey Act, first passed in 1900 and amended
several times, that stops the importation of potentially dangerous
non-native species. It is similar to a law enacted in 2003 that banned
interstate commerce in lions, tigers and other big cats for the pet
trade.

The measure, which does not affect the purchase of animals by zoos or
research centers, now goes to the Senate.

The bill is H.R. 80.