Humane Society slams Bachmann on primate pet vote

The Humane Society, the largest animal welfare organization in the world, slammed Rep. Michele Bachmann for her vote last week against a bill outlawing the sale of apes, monkeys and other non-human primates in the exotic pet trade. The group took Bachmann to task for the primate vote as well as votes to allow trophy hunting of endangered polar bears and to allow the slaughter of wild horses for human consumption.  The Captive Primate Safety Act, H.R. 2964, prohibits the sale of apes, monkeys and other primates as pets.

"Michele Bachmann is out of step with Minnesota citizens who want common-sense animal welfare policies and want their communities protected from dangerous attacks and diseases,"  Michael Markarian, president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund said in a press release Thursday.

Bites from household non-human primates have resulted in injury and disease transmission. In earlier this month a New York toddler had his finger bitten off by a pet monkey. Several incidents of pet monkeys attacking neighbors in 2007 required painful rabies treatment to the victims, many of whom were minors (PDF list of 2007 incidents).

Of particular interest is Virus B, a form of herpes that is common among certain species of monkey kept as pets. Virus B, while generally harmless to the monkey, causes brain-swelling (encephalitis) in the majority of humans infected. The University of Minnesota has stringent guidelines for the safe handling of non-human primates as they can transmit more than a dozen serious illnesses. Minnesota law bans the private possession of non-human primates.

Despite Bachmann’s vote against the bipartisan bill, the Captive Primate Safety Act passed the House Thursday by a vote of 302 to 96.