On 14 December 2023, the Government moved a step forward to prohibiting in England the keeping of primates as pets by persons at home and in private collections by laying out the draft Animal Welfare (Primate Licences) (England) Regulations 2023 (the “Regulations“) . 

The presentation of the Regulations follows the conclusion of a public consultation by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs on the restriction of the private keeping of primates, for which the UK Centre for Animal Law worked alongside an alliance of NGO’s to submit expert evidence in respect of animal protection concerns.

The draft Regulations propose to introduce a licencing regime where persons would not be able to privately keep primates unless properly licenced by their respective local authorities to do so. The stated intention behind the regulations is to only allow a minority of licenced keeping of primates where persons can demonstrate that the animals will be kept to zoo-like standards of the five freedoms of animal welfare.

Rob Espin, co-chair of the UK Centre for Animal Law’s Wildlife Working Group reacted to the announcement, “Whilst the disappointment of the Kept Animals Bill being abandoned remains fresh, it is promising to see the Government take pro-active steps towards the prohibition of keeping of primates as pets given the mass public and expert support for such a prohibition in light of the significant welfare issues posed to privately kept primates. 

The UK Centre for Animal Law will continue to work with other NGOs and experts in publishing detailed analysis on the effectiveness of the Regulations. On first reading we have initial concerns regarding the content of the Regulations, including that only one inspection every three years appears mandatory for licenced primates and there does not seem to be the ability to add special, species specific conditions to licences to safeguard the welfare of different primates. We therefore encourage the Government work with NGOs and experts to ensure the Regulations are sufficiently stringent to end the improper keeping of primates as pets.”

The next steps for Regulations is to proceed through the House of Commons as delegated legislation.