Captive Primate Safety Act of 2025

This bill aims to keep primates, like monkeys and apes, out of the pet trade and away from public contact. It makes it illegal to import, export, move across state lines, sell, buy, breed, or possess “prohibited primate species,” with limited exceptions. The goal is to reduce dangerous encounters and improve animal welfare. The bill is called the Captive Primate Safety Act of 2025. The main rule says people may not trade or keep these primates, including moving them in interstate or foreign commerce, or breeding them, unless they qualify for an exception.

Some exceptions are allowed. Transporters can briefly hold animals only to move them quickly to permitted holders. Existing owners may keep animals they already have if they register each animal within 180 days of the law taking effect, do not breed, acquire, or sell them after that, and do not allow any direct public contact. Registered research facilities in good standing with the Department of Agriculture are also allowed to continue their work. The Interior Department must issue rules within 180 days, and the law can still be enforced even if those rules are late. The bill also makes small fixes to the Lacey Act’s wording and updates a law reference. These details shape how the rules are carried out day to day.

Key points

• Who is affected: Private owners, breeders, sellers, transporters, and research facilities; the general public that might otherwise have contact with primates .
• What changes: Most buying, selling, breeding, possession, and cross‑state movement of prohibited primates becomes illegal; no public handling; narrow exceptions for quick transport, existing owners who register and follow strict rules, and USDA‑registered research facilities .
• When: Rules must be issued within 180 days; current owners have 180 days from enactment to register their animals.