Written by Michelle Kretzer
As the U.S. Congress considers the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act, which would permanently ban the use of chimpanzees in invasive experiments and retire all 600 federally owned chimpanzees to sanctuaries, Rampart star Woody Harrelson has written a letter to one of his California senators, Barbara Boxer, on behalf of PETA imploring her in her key role as the chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works to support the bill:
[N]early 1,000 of these complex beings are locked inside barren cells in U.S. laboratories—some for as long as 50 years—where they have been intentionally infected with diseases such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis and forced to endure decades of invasive procedures, fear, loneliness, and pain. This hellish experience leaves lifelong emotional scars on chimpanzees, and many of them resort to self-mutilation or suffer from depression and other psychological disorders for years after experiencing the trauma of having their minds and bodies violated.
Just hours after the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine (IOM) announced the findings of its long-awaited report on the scientific validity of experiments on chimpanzees, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which commissioned the report, announced that it was suspending funding for any new experiments on chimpanzees. All currently funded experiments on chimpanzees will be re-evaluated, and funding for many may end.
You may remember that we testified at the IOM committee's hearing on the issue last summer. The committee listened to us and to the scientists who testified and concluded that "most current biomedical research use of chimpanzees is not necessary."
© Smileus | iStockPhoto.com
NIH had originally commissioned the study in response to the outcry from PETA and other animal protection groups when the agency tried to pull more than 200 chimpanzees out of retirement at the Alamogordo Primate Facility in New Mexico and send them back to laboratories. PETA, politicians, and other animal advocates stopped the move, and now, none of the chimpanzees at Alamorgordo, or any other NIH-owned chimpanzees not currently enrolled in experiments, can be used pending a further review by NIH.
This may well be the beginning of the end of chimpanzee experimentation. However, until these experiments are permanently banned, hundreds of chimpanzees are still in peril, which is why it remains vital that Congress pass the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act, which would phase out the use of all chimpanzees in invasive experiments and permanently retire more than 600 federally owned chimpanzees to sanctuaries, where they could live in peace at last. You can help by clicking here to urge your congressional representatives to pass this groundbreaking law and end the use of all great apes in experiments.
Written by PETA
Experts are calling on director Cameron Crowe to stop using primates as props in his films, like his upcoming We Bought a Zoo:
If you see an animal in a movie, commercial, or print advertisement, please let us know info@peta.org so that we can take action.
Written by Jennifer O'Connor
Should a wild animal be forced to sell car insurance, dance the Macarena, and smoke cigars to provoke a laugh? Not that it matters if there were millions of chimpanzees around to abuse, but a new study concludes that chimpanzees may be doomed as a species as long as the public continues to see them in commercials and movies.
Scientist Steve Ross, founder of Project ChimpCARE and assistant director of the Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, sums it up: "The inaccurate and frivolous portrayal of these complex and endangered primates should be of serious concern to anyone interested in animal care and safety. Whether intentional or not, these images are resulting in significant effects on perceptions of chimpanzees that may hinder critical conservation and welfare initiatives that much of the general public supports."
PETA has received pledges from 10 of the top 15 advertising agencies in the world not to use great apes in their ads. And watch for innovative high-tech alternatives in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which opened last weekend. Not one live ape was used in this thriller—don't miss it!
I hope you're as stoked as I am to see Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which opens this Friday, August 5. The movie's message and CGI special effects are so animal-friendly that PETA has given director Rupert Wyatt a Proggy Award for recognizing that real great apes don't belong on production sets.
Given the impressive technology available now—and you'll see it in all its glory in this film—there's no need to hire wild-animal trainers who rip baby chimpanzees away from their mothers and physically abuse them to force them to perform on cue.
Run, walk, or swing through the trees—just don't wait to see this movie!
A PETA “chimpanzee” gives Rise of the Planet of the Apes two opposable thumbs up outside the premiere in Hollywood.
Yes, you read that right. The upcoming movie Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the eagerly anticipated sequel to Planet of the Apes, has done the original one better. Unlike Planet of the Apes, no great apes were used in the production of the sequel—it relies entirely on computer-generated imagery (CGI). As seen in the just-released trailer, the movie’s lead ape character is actually actor Andy Serkis, who, through the magic of CGI and motion-capture technology, is turned into the chimpanzee leader, Caesar.
The spectacular digital effects are courtesy of Weta Digital, the Oscar-winning team behind Avatar, Lord of the Rings, and King Kong (whose director, Peter Jackson, earned a Proggy from PETA).
Chimpanzees and other great apes used for entertainment are torn away from their mothers as babies and physically and psychologically abused during training. When they reach adolescence and become too strong to control, they are often dumped at miserable roadside zoos, as was the fate of Chubbs, one of the chimpanzees used in the Tim Burton-directed Planet of the Apes.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes has a new director, Rupert Wyatt, who wanted to make the point that in this age of advanced realistic CGI technology, there is no need to use great apes in films. Here’s hoping that other studios will take note.
You’ll definitely want to see Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It sounds like a great contender for another Oscar for Weta, and perhaps a PETA Proggy Award too.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
For me, the highlight of the 2010 Super Bowl wasn't the Saints' inspiring victory in their first Super Bowl appearance but rather the abundance of animal-friendly commercials that ran between touchdowns. That's why I was saddened to hear that CareerBuilder is planning to run a commercial featuring real chimpanzees during the 2011 Super Bowl, even though the company was bombarded with thousands of letters from concerned people after airing similar ads in 2005 and 2006. CareerBuilder knows by now that chimpanzees used in the entertainment industry are physically abused, torn away from their mothers when they're babies, and usually abandoned by the age of 8, but apparently it just doesn't care.
Anjelica Huston has now joined with the thousands of PETA supporters who have written letters to CareerBuilder urging the company to can this cruel ad. If you haven't already done so, please remind CareerBuilder that there is nothing funny about cruelty to animals and urge the company to cut the monkey business.
Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post
After learning from PETA that great apes used in commercials are torn from their mothers when they are just babies and beaten into submission, pharmaceutical company Pfizer has replaced a new TV ad for Robitussin that originally featured an orangutan with a new ad that includes a computer-generated ape.
Grey Group created the old commercial just before signing PETA's Great Ape Humane Pledge, agreeing to never again use great apes in ads. It joins many other top ad agencies including BBDO, Young & Rubicam, and Ogilvy & Mather. Pfizer has also pledged not to use primates in future commercials.
Share Anjelica Huston's moving and thought-provoking video with family and friends and spread the word about what the entertainment industry does to our closest primate cousins.
There's great news from across the Atlantic, where the European Union has voted to ban the use of great apes in experiments. The new legislation also places significant restrictions on testing on other primates and requires that non-animal methods be used whenever possible.
This is an exciting development—but it also raises a question: In light of this humane advance, how can the U.S. government justify its plans to transfer more than 200 "retired" chimpanzees from a facility in New Mexico to a research laboratory in Texas, where they'll probably be forced to endure cruel experiments?
There is no excuse for it, of course, so please help us persuade officials to permanently retire the chimpanzees to a sanctuary.
Written by Jeff Mackey
If you've already caught any of this summer's movie blockbusters, you may have seen Sprint's "turn off your cell phone" reminder, which features a live chimpanzee.
Witnessing animal abuse during the previews definitely ruins a movie before it starts, but—thanks to those who participated in our action alert and all of you who tweeted at Sprint—we're thrilled to announce that the company has decided to stop circulating the ads as of July 3 and has pledged never to feature great apes in future ad campaigns. Yay! Check out Sprint's full statement on its Web site.
Chimpanzees and other great apes who are forced into the entertainment industry are ripped away from their mothers when they are only days old, are trained by being beaten, kicked, and punched, and are then discarded at filthy roadside zoos when they're no longer useful in show business. After learning about this abuse, progressive companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Gap Inc., Levi Strauss & Co., SEGA, Honda, PUMA, Yahoo!, Subaru, and now Sprint have been quick to step up and take a stand for animals. Castrol, are you listening?
Written by Liz Graffeo
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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