Mangabeys in Private Hands

 Up until the mid 1990’s, mangabeys were extremely rare in the private sector in North America. With the exception of a few animal dealers, most of the mangabeys came in from Africa and went to zoos.

Sadly, mangabeys in private hands (dealers, sanctuaries, auction houses, personal collections and breeders) started in earnest in the 1990’s for two reasons. First, there was (and still is) pressure from the public for research facilities to be responsible for placing their post-project primates in a “good home”. Historically, a “good home” meant a zoo. However, AZA zoos are using their exhibit spaces for target species of AZA programs. The species research facilities had been using are not North American target species. In addition, not all sanctuaries are “good homes” and can often end up being fronts for animal dealers. Secondly, a group of wild-caught mangabeys were transferred from a research facility to two private facilities. The offspring of those animals have shown up in auction houses and also a few have been confiscated by law enforcement.   

Mangabeys going into the non-AZA zoo sector are often in breeding condition. Both sexes should be permanently sterilized so as to not add to the problem of “pet” mangabeys. Besides mangabeys being very strong monkeys and therefore potentially dangerous in household settings, the disease potential cannot be ignored.

It is important that ALL PARTIES – zoos, research facilities, and sanctuaries – take responsibility for the animals in their care. Mangabeys can live into their thirties and that is how long the commitment should last.

 Listing in International Regulations

Taxonomy continues to plague mangabeys in CITES listings, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the US Fish and Wildlife Endangered Species List and the EU Wildlife Trade Regulations. The taxonomic confusion (the combining or misuse of species names) is especially evident when you look at the countries of origin listed in the original documents. The taxonomic names listed below are how they appear in each registry.

               CITES:

                                Appendix II (first listed 04/02/77):     C. agilis, C. galeritus, L. albigena, C. torquatus

                                Appendix I (first listed 01/07/77):      C. galeritus galeritus

 

                IUCN Red Data List of Threatened Species (Red Data List 2006):

No entry for the species:                    L. kipunji

Lower risk / near threatened:            C. galeritus (assume to be C. agilis), C. atys

                                                                C. torquatus, L. aterrimus

Lower risk / least concern                  L. albigena

Endangered:                                        C. galeritus sanjei

Critically endangered:                        C. g. galeritus, C. atys lunulatus

Data Deficient:                                     C. galeritus chrysogaster, L. aterrimus opdenboschi

 

                US FWS Endangered Species Act:

                                Endangered:                                        C. torquatus (white-collared), designated 19 Oct 76

                                                                                                C. galeritus galeritus, designated 02 Jun 70

 

                EU Wildlife Trade Regulations / EC Regulation:

Annex A:                                                                C. galeritus galeritus

                                Annex B:                                                                C. agilis, C. torquatus, C. chrysogaster, L. albigena