By Tim Saunders on
A new PETA documentary about the brutal treatment of monkeys and apes in Hollywood is being distributed to studios by its narrator, Anjelica Huston.
The 57-year-old actress made the video to highlight the use and abuse of young chimpanzees and orangutans by the entertainment industry, and exposes the methods some trainers use to achieve results. She reveals how young animals are beaten with fists and kicked in the head during terrifying training sessions, and how some trainers use sawed-off pool cues and electric shocks to make young animals obey and perform meaningless and confusing tricks on the set over and over again for long hours at a time.
“Having worked with actors for many years, I find it hard to believe that anyone would have to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into show business,” said Huston. “But the next time that you see a chimpanzee in a movie, on TV, or in an ad, chances are, that’s exactly what happened. It’s a sad story that starts when the animals are babies, when they are torn away from their mothers and forced to depend upon human trainers. Great ape mothers are fiercely protective of their newborns, which means that they must be tricked, sedated, or forcibly restrained when their infants are pulled from their arms. This cruel practice leaves lifelong emotional scars on both the mothers – who go into a deep depression – and the babies.”
According to PETA: “By age 8, young chimpanzees used in the entertainment industry have grown too strong to be handled, and they are usually discarded – often at dismal roadside zoos or pseudo-sanctuaries. There, they languish for decades – chimpanzees can live to age 60 – in barren cages or dank, depressing concrete cells.”
“Chimpanzees and orangutans belong in rain forests, where they can build nests, forage for natural foods, make and use tools, groom each other, and raise families,”said Huston. “Using great apes in TV, movies, and advertising … causes a lifetime of suffering.”
To view the video and learn more about the issue, visit www.nomoremonkeybusiness.com.
Copyright © 2008 Look to the Stars
