A DEBATE on the plight of pet monkeys in the UK was discussed at Parliament this week.

The debate was called by Richard Drax, MP for South Dorset and backed by Dorset's Monkey World.

It follows last year’s petition demanding 'Welfare for Wildlife', handed into Downing Street by Monkey World director Dr Alison Cronin, Mr Drax and musician Peter Gabriel.

With more than 110,000 signatures the petition campaigns for a change in the law to the legal UK pet trade, which currently allows more than 66 species of monkey to be kept as pets without a register or needing a license.

The primates include all species of tamarin, squirrel monkey and marmosets and can be bought easily.

Due to the unregulated trade, social media sales are rife and primates are not the only victims, as scams are on the rise.

Some 'breeders' have sold the same monkey several times for huge sums, up to £1,700 in some cases.

Many others claim to need deposits for vet checks and transport, with no monkey forthcoming after the unsuspecting buyer parts with his money.

Not knowing the specialist diets, social needs and appropriate environments these primates require, owners are unwittingly neglecting the monkeys, and Monkey World have rescued 106 primates from private homes.

Worryingly, the trade is on the rise, with more than half of these rescues taking place in the last five years.

Many suffer from rickets, aggression and mobility issues, often from being kept alone in bird cages, with no outside access and a diet of table scraps.

The home-grown legal UK pet trade is the largest problem Monkey World faces.

Dr Alison Cronin, who is regularly called to assist upset private owners, the RSPCA in cruelty cases and police who encounter vulnerable monkeys said: “Every week, Monkey World is contacted to rescue more victims of the legal trade in monkeys as 'pets' in the UK.

"For a nation of animal lovers, this uncontrolled trade is causing suffering for both animals and people. The current laws need to change.”

A spokesman for Monkey World said that modifying existing laws will also protect well-meaning animal owners and that with the Dorset rescue centre already at bursting point with victims of the pet trade, the change cannot come soon enough.