[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 32 (Tuesday, February 24, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H2606-H2607]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  CAPTIVE PRIMATE SAFETY ACT (H.R. 80)

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Yesterday, the House engaged in a vigorous debate on 
the captive primate bill, H.R. 80, which would prohibit the interstate 
transport of chimpanzees and other monkeys across State borders. It was 
fascinating listening to the give-and-take on the floor of the House. 
The argument against the bill seemed to center on two points:
  One was that this bill was not the most important thing that we could 
possibly be considering at the time. The second was that it would not 
stop the ability of some people to have a chimpanzee as a pet in their 
own homes.
  I found it interesting because the notion that somehow this measure 
is not the most important issue is true. Congress deals with thousands 
of issues in a wide range of areas--from passing budgets, to dealing 
with the national debt, to recovering our economy, to naming post 
offices, to dealing with protections for the environment.

                              {time}  1045

  There are a wide range. One of the things why we have 435 of us here 
and 100 Senators is because we can do more than one thing at once.
  But I will tell you, the woman who is in the hospital in Cleveland, 
who had her face ripped off by a chimpanzee last week, would probably 
think, along with her family and friends, that it might be important to 
deal with the safety of Americans, over 100 of whom

[[Page H2607]]

have been attacked by primates in the last 10 years . . . 100 that we 
know of. The most important issue of the world? Maybe not, until 
tragedy strikes your family or your community.
  The second notion, that somehow it would not magically stop overnight 
the ability to have a wild animal, that is not domesticated, that has 
no business being treated as a pet in somebody's home, is an excuse not 
to act. That betrays lack of knowledge of what we have done dealing 
with animal welfare for the last 50 years.
  To be able to deal with frameworks moving forward, establishing 
protections is important. In 2003 we dealt with the problem of having 
large cats, tigers, lions, panthers that people kept as pets. We're 
also going to have to do something in the long run with other 
inappropriate pets like crocodiles and pythons.
  These are not trivial items. This is not appropriate treatment for 
some of God's creatures, and they put families at risk. We in Congress 
should establish these frameworks to avoid future problems.
  The most important point is that, if the provisions of our bill had 
been established policy, that poor woman wouldn't be in a hospital in 
Cleveland because the monkey that attacked her would not have been 
shipped from Missouri (along with others that were disbursed around the 
country) to Connecticut to her neighbor.
  I would suggest that it's important for people to take a step back 
and look at critical areas of animal welfare and the relationship that 
we have with them. It is important to pass this legislation, as the 
House did overwhelmingly last session, only to have it die in the 
Senate. It's important to pass it again, but it's also important for 
people to be able to deal with establishing an appropriate framework 
for relationships with animals so that it doesn't have to become the 
most important thing in the world for one family or one community. 
Instead, we have a logical, rational set of policies that are good for 
the welfare of animals, that protect our families and have the Federal 
Government playing its appropriate role.
  Already 20 States around the country have done their job with an 
outright prohibition. It's time for the Federal Government to amend the 
Lacey Act to extend the protections dealing with captive primates, to 
help in a small but critical way make all our communities more livable 
and our families safer, healthier and more economically secure.

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