PETA Statement: American Greetings Pulls Cards Featuring Connor the Chimpanzee

For Immediate Release:
December 21, 2016

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Below, please find a statement from PETA primatologist Julia Gallucci in response to the news that American Greetings has agreed to stop distributing greeting cards featuring Connor the chimpanzee:

American Greetings did the right thing by pledging to stop distributing cards with Connor’s photo on it and acknowledging the harm that those cards have done—but PETA urges the company to consider the tragic stories of all apes who were stolen from their mothers, forced into costumes for photo shoots, then left to languish at a filthy facility such as the Missouri Primate Foundation, where Connor and others still suffer today. American Greetings can and should do more for these animals by ending the sale of all cards that feature great apes and that send the harmful message that it’s OK to exploit animals for profit. Such cards mislead the public into believing that these animals are prevalent in the wild, when in fact, they’re endangered.

PETA’s motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment,” and more information about Connor and the Missouri Primate Foundation is available here.