too sad.
I found this today:
That's Not Entertainment
Published 11-13-03 (Hollywood, California)
Cruelty to animals is no laughing matter. Yet
every day millions of
television viewers witness animal cruelty...and
think it's funny.
The sad truth of it is, these viewers simply
don't know that every
time they see a chimpanzee acting human on TV -
by wearing clothes,
riding a tricycle or pretending to speak or smile
- they're actually
viewing the product of a cruel cycle of
exploitation, intimidation
and abuse.
Now ALDF and its allies have set out to break
that cycle by releasing
a shocking new report that exposes the cruel
"training" that's
necessary to turn wild chimpanzees into cringing
show
biz "performers." Titled "Serving a Life Sentence
for Your Viewing
Pleasure: The Case for Ending the Use of Great
Apes in Film and
Television," the report was created by the
Chimpanzee Collaboratory,
an alliance of attorneys, scientists and public
policy experts
committed to helping chimps. Founded by ALDF and
a coalition of
likeminded organizations, the Collaboratory
announced the release of
the report at a press conference this fall.
At the press conference, world-renowned
chimpanzee expert Dr. Jane
Goodall called on directors, writers, actors and
other show business
professionals to boycott productions that use
chimpanzee performers.
Among those attending the event were actresses
Frances Fisher
(Unforgiven, Titanic) and Lucinda Jenney (The
Mothman Prophecies,
S.W.A.T.) Sitcom star Wendie Malick (Just Shoot
Me) rose
spontaneously to describe her unsettling
encounters with Hollywood
chimp trainers. C Chimpanzee Collaboratory
Research Consultant Sarah
Baeckler, an expert in primate behavior, also
shared her experiences
working with chimpanzee "actors."
"If the chimpanzees try to run away from a
trainer, they are beaten,"
said Baeckler, who researched the treatment of
show business primates
by spending a year as a volunteer at a prominent
chimp-training
compound. "If they bite someone, they are beaten.
If they don't pay
attention, they are beaten. Sometimes they are
beaten without any
provocation or for things that are completely out
of their control."
According to Baeckler, she witnessed trainers
punching baby
chimpanzees and was told to kick the animals in
the face because they
were "sturdy" and supposedly couldn't be hurt.
The Collaboratory's 24-page report exhaustively
documents such
abuses, detailing how highly intelligent primates
are transformed
into fearful, cowering props for use in the
entertainment industry.
Baby chimpanzees are torn from their mothers
years before they would
even be weaned in the wild. "Trained" through a
harsh regimen of
regular beatings, the chimps begin performing
around age 3 and are
retired - i.e. discarded - when they grow too
large to control
through physical intimidation, usually around age
8.
Once their performing days are over, the animals
often end up in the
hands of run-down roadside tourist attractions or
unscrupulous
breeders. Never properly socialized with other
chimps, they usually
spend the rest of their lives in isolation and
squalor. (To read the
report in its entirely, go to the Chimpanzee
Collaboratory's website:
www.chimpcollaboratory.org.
"If people knew about the abuses performing apes
are subjected to,
they'd be sickened every time they see a chimp on
TV, not amused,"
says ALDF President Steve Ann Chambers. "That's
why this report is so
important. It can help educate the public while
putting pressure on
Hollywood to stop the abuse. It might take years,
but with enough
support I'm confident we can eventually bring
down the curtain on
chimpanzee exploitation in the entertainment
industry."
The other organizations in the Chimpanzee
Collaboratory are the Jane
Goodall Institute, the Ape Alliance of North
America, the Center for
Captive Chimpanzee Care, the Center for the
Expansion of Fundamental
Rights, the Doris Day Animal Foundation, the
Friends of Washoe and
the Great Ape Project.
Animal Legal Defense Fund
www.aldf.org
That's Not Entertainment
Published 11-13-03 (Hollywood, California)
Cruelty to animals is no laughing matter. Yet
every day millions of
television viewers witness animal cruelty...and
think it's funny.
The sad truth of it is, these viewers simply
don't know that every
time they see a chimpanzee acting human on TV -
by wearing clothes,
riding a tricycle or pretending to speak or smile
- they're actually
viewing the product of a cruel cycle of
exploitation, intimidation
and abuse.
Now ALDF and its allies have set out to break
that cycle by releasing
a shocking new report that exposes the cruel
"training" that's
necessary to turn wild chimpanzees into cringing
show
biz "performers." Titled "Serving a Life Sentence
for Your Viewing
Pleasure: The Case for Ending the Use of Great
Apes in Film and
Television," the report was created by the
Chimpanzee Collaboratory,
an alliance of attorneys, scientists and public
policy experts
committed to helping chimps. Founded by ALDF and
a coalition of
likeminded organizations, the Collaboratory
announced the release of
the report at a press conference this fall.
At the press conference, world-renowned
chimpanzee expert Dr. Jane
Goodall called on directors, writers, actors and
other show business
professionals to boycott productions that use
chimpanzee performers.
Among those attending the event were actresses
Frances Fisher
(Unforgiven, Titanic) and Lucinda Jenney (The
Mothman Prophecies,
S.W.A.T.) Sitcom star Wendie Malick (Just Shoot
Me) rose
spontaneously to describe her unsettling
encounters with Hollywood
chimp trainers. C Chimpanzee Collaboratory
Research Consultant Sarah
Baeckler, an expert in primate behavior, also
shared her experiences
working with chimpanzee "actors."
"If the chimpanzees try to run away from a
trainer, they are beaten,"
said Baeckler, who researched the treatment of
show business primates
by spending a year as a volunteer at a prominent
chimp-training
compound. "If they bite someone, they are beaten.
If they don't pay
attention, they are beaten. Sometimes they are
beaten without any
provocation or for things that are completely out
of their control."
According to Baeckler, she witnessed trainers
punching baby
chimpanzees and was told to kick the animals in
the face because they
were "sturdy" and supposedly couldn't be hurt.
The Collaboratory's 24-page report exhaustively
documents such
abuses, detailing how highly intelligent primates
are transformed
into fearful, cowering props for use in the
entertainment industry.
Baby chimpanzees are torn from their mothers
years before they would
even be weaned in the wild. "Trained" through a
harsh regimen of
regular beatings, the chimps begin performing
around age 3 and are
retired - i.e. discarded - when they grow too
large to control
through physical intimidation, usually around age
8.
Once their performing days are over, the animals
often end up in the
hands of run-down roadside tourist attractions or
unscrupulous
breeders. Never properly socialized with other
chimps, they usually
spend the rest of their lives in isolation and
squalor. (To read the
report in its entirely, go to the Chimpanzee
Collaboratory's website:
www.chimpcollaboratory.org.
"If people knew about the abuses performing apes
are subjected to,
they'd be sickened every time they see a chimp on
TV, not amused,"
says ALDF President Steve Ann Chambers. "That's
why this report is so
important. It can help educate the public while
putting pressure on
Hollywood to stop the abuse. It might take years,
but with enough
support I'm confident we can eventually bring
down the curtain on
chimpanzee exploitation in the entertainment
industry."
The other organizations in the Chimpanzee
Collaboratory are the Jane
Goodall Institute, the Ape Alliance of North
America, the Center for
Captive Chimpanzee Care, the Center for the
Expansion of Fundamental
Rights, the Doris Day Animal Foundation, the
Friends of Washoe and
the Great Ape Project.
Animal Legal Defense Fund
www.aldf.org