Abandoned monkey found in laundry bag on London bus

Animal welfare charities say marmoset could be ‘first of many’ since new law on primate licenses and microchipping A “stressed and dehydrated” monkey has been found in a laundry bag on a London bus in what animal welfare charities warn could be the “first of many” abandonments now owners must obtain primate licenses. The female common marmoset was discovered on a 302 bus waiting in Kensal Rise, north-west London, on Friday by a passenger whose buggy was obstructed by the bag containing the monkey in a cage. The monkey has since been named Oyster after the London transport payment system. The bus driver contacted the RSPCA, which handled 238 reports of primate neglect and cruelty between 2021 and 2025. New legislation passed in April mandated that all primates kept in England are licensed and microchipped. Owners who failed to obtain a license by 6 April risk an unlimited fine or jail. Alison Cronin, the director of Monkey World and a contributor to the new legislation, said over the past decade “a lot of well-meaning people … have fallen victim to people on social media promoting these wild animals as good domestic pets”. She said UK breeders were “making a killing” out of this mis