Lemurs
as Pets
By Heather Thomas, Education
Coordinator
Duke University Primate Center
It is the opinion of the Primate
Center that no primate should be kept by an
individual. There are many reasons why, here are a few --
1. We do not know of veterinarians
in our area (Raleigh-Durham) or many
outside of our area that are knowledgeable about the care
of primates.
Unfortunately our vet is busy with our primates (all of which
are
Prosimians, not monkeys, with a slightly different morphology
than monkeys)
and is unable to use our facility for the care of outside
primates. The
best thing to do in this case would be to contact the Vet
School at NCSU or
a Vet in your area and ask for their opinion.
2. Though we get phone calls from
individuals who own primates we do not
keep records of them. Often the phone calls are about health
issues or
personality issues and we are not able to help.
3. I am also unaware of any books
or websites that are positive on this
issue. Here are two very good websites that discourages keeping
them as pets:
www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/09/0916_03016_primatepets.html
and www.petmonkey.info/articles.htm, both of these web sites
specifically refer
to monkeys, but the problems are the same. There are also
a few "primate
rescues" in Florida that you may be able to do a general
Internet search
for. Florida seems to have a number of individuals who own
primates and
the reason there are rescue centers is because most people
can't handle
these animals in their homes and end up turn them over to
a rescue center.
4. It is true that primates cannot
be domesticated. Our prosimians here
are kept wild. One reason is so that they will have natural
behaviors and
another is because if they become to accustomed to humans
they become
biters and very aggressive. One of our most common questions
from owners
is how to remove their teeth after the animal starts biting
the owner and
their family.
5. As you can tell, our opinion
on owning a primate is very low. When
giving tours to the public we often tell them that primates
do not make
good pets, because "when you want a pet, you want something
that is smart
enough to do what you want it to do, but dumb enough to do
it every time."
Primates cannot be trained, merely conditioned - and that
is only by food
or force - neither of which is healthy.
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