Can You Own a Chimpanzee in Washington? What State and Federal Law Say

If you’ve ever watched a viral video of a chimpanzee riding a bike or wearing a tuxedo and wondered whether you could bring one home, Washington’s answer is a firm no for almost everyone. Can you own a chimpanzee in Washington? Under the state’s Dangerous Wild Animals Act, private possession has been banned since 2007, with only a narrow exception for people who already had one before the law took effect.

This guide walks through what federal law says about primate ownership, how Washington’s own statute treats chimpanzees and other apes, what permits exist (and for whom), how local ordinances add another layer of restriction, and what penalties apply if you keep one illegally.

Is It Legal to Own a Chimpanzee in Washington

The chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is a great ape native to the forests and savannas of west and central Africa, prized in captivity for its intelligence and humanlike behavior — qualities that also make it strong, unpredictable, and genuinely dangerous to keep in a home. Washington answered the ownership question decisively in 2007, when lawmakers passed the Dangerous Wild Animals Act, codified at RCW 16.30. Under that law, a person shall not own, possess, keep, harbor, bring into the state, or have custody or control of a potentially dangerous wild animal, and the statute’s definition includes, among others, lions, tigers, captive-bred cougars, jaguars, cheetahs, leopards, wolves, bears, hyenas, non-human primates, elephants, rhinoceroses, certain reptiles, and venomous snakes.

Chimpanzees fall squarely into that non-human primate category, alongside gorillas, orangutans, and bonobos. In 2007, the state legislature banned the importation, possession, and breeding of all species of apes, making it illegal to import, possess, breed, or sell apes for use as pets and for most exhibition and commercial purposes. The only people who can legally keep a chimpanzee today are those who owned one before the law’s cutoff date, plus a short list of institutions covered later in this guide.

What Federal Law Currently Says About Primate Ownership

Before looking at Washington’s statute, it helps to understand the federal backdrop, since state law builds on top of it rather than replacing it. Because of the serious health risk, importing nonhuman primates into the United States for the pet trade has been banned by federal regulation since 1975. That rule blocks new imports of wild-caught monkeys and apes for the pet market, but it does nothing to control primates already inside U.S. borders.

Aside from the ban on importing primates for the pet trade, there are no federal laws governing the sale or keeping of primates as pets, and while primates used in research or held by dealers and exhibitors get some protection under the Animal Welfare Act, that protection does not extend to animals in private homes. In practice, that leaves each state — Washington included — to decide for itself whether private citizens can keep a chimpanzee, monkey, or other primate. As of February 2016, 25 states prohibited keeping all primates as pets, while six more banned some species but allowed others, leaving a patchwork that still exists in broad strokes today.

Congress has tried more than once to close this gap the way it did for big cats. A related federal bill was described as similar to the Captive Wildlife Safety Act, which Congress passed in 2003 to ban interstate commerce in lions, tigers, and other big cats for the pet trade. The primate-focused version, the Captive Primate Safety Act, would modify the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 to treat nonhuman primates as prohibited wildlife species while allowing exemptions for zoos and research facilities, effectively ending the domestic pet trade in primates at the federal level. As reported by NPR, many states still allow people to keep primates as pets, which is exactly what the proposed federal Captive Primate Safety Act is aiming to change — if passed, it would ban primate pet ownership in all 50 states.

Important Note: The Captive Primate Safety Act has been introduced in multiple sessions of Congress but has not been enacted into federal law as of the most recent reporting. Until that changes, primate ownership rules — including whether you can own a chimpanzee in Washington — remain a state-by-state matter.

Washington’s Laws on Owning a Chimpanzee

Washington’s Dangerous Wild Animals Act was written with a clear public-safety purpose. It is the intent of the state of Washington to protect the public against the serious health and safety risks that dangerous wild animals pose to the community. Because chimpanzees and other apes are classified as non-human primates under RCW 16.30.010, they are treated the same as lions, bears, and venomous snakes for ownership purposes — a framework you can see applied to other regulated species in Washington’s venomous animal laws, which follow the same bright-line prohibition model.

The one narrow exception is the grandfather clause. A person in legal possession of a potentially dangerous wild animal prior to July 22, 2007, and who is the legal possessor of the animal, may keep possession of the animal for the remainder of the animal’s life. This mirrors the specific rule for apes: the ban includes a grandfather clause, meaning anyone who lawfully possessed an ape before July 22, 2007, is allowed to keep that ape for the remainder of the animal’s life. That protection is not automatic — owners need documentation proving they legally acquired the animal before the cutoff, including veterinary and acquisition records, since the state can and will confiscate an undocumented chimpanzee it believes was acquired after the ban.

If a grandfathered chimpanzee ever escapes, gets injured, or needs to be relocated, the process typically falls under the same general framework covered in Washington’s wildlife removal laws, since animal control and law enforcement officers have authority to intervene with dangerous wild animals regardless of how they were acquired.

Permits and Requirements for Chimpanzee Ownership in Washington

Unlike some exotic species that Washington allows with the right paperwork, there is no permit pathway that lets an ordinary resident legally acquire a chimpanzee today. The only entities that can lawfully possess, import, or exhibit apes are narrowly defined institutions, and each comes with its own compliance burden.

Exempt Entity	Requirement to Keep an Ape Legally
AZA-accredited zoos	Accreditation plus entry permit and veterinary inspection for any imported animal
Out-of-state circuses	Class C license under the federal Animal Welfare Act
Research facilities	Class R license under the federal Animal Welfare Act for the species held
Wildlife sanctuaries	Meets the statutory sanctuary definition; import permit and health certificate required

Association of Zoos and Aquariums accredited zoos, out-of-state circuses, certain wildlife sanctuaries, and research facilities are exempt from the Act, though even these apes must be accompanied by an entry permit and certificate of veterinary inspection when imported. Research facilities and circuses qualify based on their federal licensing status: a research facility is defined by the federal Animal Welfare Act, including universities, colleges, and laboratories holding a valid Class R license, while circuses must hold an incorporated Class C license under the same act.

For legitimate sanctuaries specifically, all apes imported must be accompanied by a permit issued by the Washington State Department of Agriculture and a certificate of veterinary inspection confirming the animal has been examined by a veterinarian, tested for tuberculosis, and meets Washington’s health requirements. The state also enforces a public-health backstop: it is generally illegal to import an ape that has been infected with or exposed to any communicable disease, though certain research facilities may get special permission in limited cases.

Pro Tip: If you’re weighing exotic pet options in Washington, compare the chimpanzee ban to species the state actually permits without a special license. Washington’s hedgehog ownership laws show how differently the state treats a low-risk exotic animal versus one classified as a dangerous wild animal.

Local Laws That May Apply in Washington

Washington’s statute sets a statewide floor, not a ceiling. A city or county may adopt an ordinance governing potentially dangerous wild animals that is more restrictive than the state chapter. That means even a grandfathered chimpanzee owner could run into trouble if their city or county has layered on its own, stricter rule.

This isn’t hypothetical. Before the statewide ban even existed, several jurisdictions had already acted on their own: King and Pierce counties, along with the cities of Spokane, Bellevue, and Everett, banned ownership of certain classes of animals, with King County specifically prohibiting ownership of venomous snakes, nonhuman primates, bears, nondomesticated felines and canines, and crocodiles. Some cities go further still on zoning grounds. Aberdeen’s municipal code makes it illegal to keep or maintain any chimpanzee, gorilla, or other dangerous wild animal within any residential zone, with exceptions only for certain zoos, circuses, medical or scientific research institutions, and humane education programs.

Just as certain breed-specific dog ordinances vary from one Washington city to the next, rules on dangerous wild animals can differ sharply by ZIP code even though the state ban applies everywhere. Before assuming a grandfathered chimpanzee can stay put, check with your local animal control authority — a state-level exception does not automatically override a local zoning or nuisance ordinance.

Penalties for Illegally Owning a Chimpanzee in Washington

Washington backs its ban with real enforcement teeth, not just a paper prohibition. The Dangerous Wild Animals Act gives animal control authorities and law enforcement officers the power to confiscate an animal held in violation of the law, a duty spelled out under RCW 16.30.040, and the statute separately authorizes civil penalties for violations under RCW 16.30.060. In practice, that means an illegally kept chimpanzee can be seized by the state regardless of how attached the owner has become to it, and the owner can still face financial penalties on top of losing the animal.

Local ordinances can stack additional consequences on top of the state penalty. A chimpanzee kept in violation of a city zoning code, like Aberdeen’s residential-zone prohibition, can trigger separate municipal citations even after state-level confiscation and penalties are resolved. And if an illegally owned chimpanzee ever injures someone, the owner’s liability exposure works on a similar principle to the negligence and strict-liability standards found in Washington’s dog bite laws — keeping a dangerous animal without legal authority to do so tends to weigh heavily against the owner in any resulting civil claim.

Given the combination of a statewide ownership ban, narrow and document-dependent grandfather rights, no realistic permit path for private citizens, and overlapping local ordinances, the practical answer to whether you can own a chimpanzee in Washington is no for virtually everyone reading this. Anyone hoping to interact with or support chimpanzees legally is generally better served by visiting an accredited zoo or contributing to a recognized sanctuary than by attempting to keep one privately.