Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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primate patrol

Take Action Tuesday Post #1

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For the past few months, I’ve been working on broadening our advocacy program, Primate Patrol, which currently focuses on the use of chimpanzees in entertainment. Our goal is to be a good resource for information about all chimpanzee issues, and to provide ways for you to take action and help. Stay tuned in the coming months for lots of great new stuff!

If you aren’t already subscribed to our Take Action newsletter list, please sign up today! Help us spread the word by getting your friends to sign up, too!

Now that I’ve introduced our plans for expansion, I’ll start what will be a regular blog entry: Take Action Tuesday. Every week, I will post advocacy related news and ways you can help.

This week’s topic is about roadside zoos and pseudo-sanctuaries, often a dumping ground for ex-pet or ex-entertainment chimps. This video on Facebook shows two chimps, Rocky and Kelby, who were both used in entertainment. Kelby was in movies such as Babe, Pig in the City and Buddy. Rocky was once owned by former chimp trainer Sid Yost. As you can see in the video, the cages are small and dirty.

Rocky and Kelby have lived in a number of different facilities. These two are currently living at Suncoast Primate Sanctuary (AKA Chimp Farm) – a substandard roadside zoo that puts its residents on display.

Suncoast Primate Sanctuary is also home to at least one infant chimpanzee. Many roadside zoos breed animals and advertise the babies as attractions. Facilities that breed their animals are perpetuating the sad cycle of captivity. The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (T.I.G.E.R.S.) is another pseudo-sanctuary, home to the orangutan Suryia (who was used in a commercial). The Big Cat Habitat and Gulf Coast Sanctuary, run by the last remaining circus trainers (the Rosaire-Zoppes) is home to Ricky the chimpanzee (featured on a book cover). All of these facilities breed their exotic animals and continue to exploit them for entertainment purposes. Reputable sanctuaries do not intentionally breed—producing babies whose fate is a lifetime of confinement is simply wrong.

What can you do to help chimps in roadside zoos? Speak up for these exploited animals, and spread the word. If a friend sends you a “cute” picture of a baby chimpanzee holding a tiger cub, take a moment to educate them about the truth behind pseudo-sanctuaries that promote those types of photos (See below for a sample message to send to your friends). Do your research before donating to any sanctuary and support rescue organizations that are committed to providing quality lifetime care.

Sample response to “cute” pictures from a pseudo-sanctuary:

Sadly, this picture is not cute and cuddly as it may appear. Portraying these exotic animals as cute and cuddly attractions seriously misinforms people about the true nature of these beings and perpetuates the pet and entertainment industries. Simply put, chimpanzees are not meant for our world and should not be in captivity. Infant chimpanzees should be with their chimpanzee mothers — not tiger cubs, dogs, or humans. Unfortunately, the facilities where these pictures originate are breeding exotic animals, which leads to a lifetime of unwarranted imprisonment for those animals. No respectable sanctuary would intentionally breed, nor would they put their animals on display or exploit them for entertainment purposes.

Rock of Ages movie

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Primate Patrol is CSNW’s advocacy program. Our goal is to provide the public with information on the plight of primates exploited in media, and alert subscribers to current issues with the use of primates in TV shows, movies, and advertisements. Sarah went undercover into a training facility in Hollywood and witnessed the trainers routinely abusing the chimpanzees. In addition to the welfare concerns with using primates in media, we also have to think in the long-term—where are they going to be sent once they are too big or too hard to handle? To learn more about these issues, check out Primate Patrol and sign up to receive alerts in your inbox. You can also Like us on Facebook!

Today I sent out the following alert, about a new movie premiering on June 15th:

Rock of Ages, a new film musical scheduled to premiere in June, stars a lot of famous human actors – and a baboon. Tom Cruise, one of the stars, stated in an interview that he requested to work with a monkey. When asked about preparing for his character, Cruise said that he thought one day “You know what? I need a monkey.” When asked to elaborate he stated, “When Stacee [Cruise’s character] is not onstage, he’s kind of sad. And I thought, ‘this guy has to have a monkey that’s his best friend.’ Adam [Rock of Ages’ director] found this baboon. He sent me the baboon’s audition tape, and I said, ‘the baboon’s name has to be Hey Man.’ Stacee Jaxx doesn’t work without Hey Man.” The baboon, Mickey, was also recently on the show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. He was seen exhibiting abnormal behaviors and a fear grimace.

Please avoid contributing to the box office receipts for Rock of Ages â€“ don’t go see it! Please spread the word to your friends and encourage them to boycott this movie with you. Let them know that monkeys should not be used in TV and film media, including the reasons listed above. Thank you for speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves!

If you have Twitter, go ahead and tweet that you won’t be seeing Rock of Ages because of the baboon actor. Example tweets:

Join me – don’t go see @rockofagesmovie because of their baboon “actor.”
Stand against abuse of nonhuman primates. Don’t go see @rockofagesmovie! Please RT!
RT Please! Join @PrimatePatrol and don’t support @rockofagesmovie when it premieres June 15th.

Another good decision

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Another company, Capitol One, has pulled their ad which had a chimpanzee “actor” and has pledged not to use primates in advertising again!

Read the full announcement sent out to Primate Patrol members a few days ago.

Thank you to everyone who reaches out to these companies to let them know why they should not use chimpanzees and other primates in their advertisements. You are making a difference!

Primate Patrol alert – Capital One

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Join Primate Patrol: www.primatepatrol.org/join

 

Capital One exploits chimpanzees (again!)

Primate Patrol has received the disappointing news that Capital One is currently running a commercial featuring a young chimpanzee “actor.” This is NOT the first time Capital One has had a chimpanzee in their advertising. Despite a growing public awareness about the ethical problems with using chimpanzee “actors” in entertainment, Capital One still chose to make another chimpanzee commercial.

Please send a polite letter to Capital One asking them not to air this commercial. Your letters can make a difference – just this year, two large companies, Dodge and Pfizer, chose to alter their commercials that featured live ape “actors” and pledged to never use primates in advertising again after hearing from concerned advocates.

Let them know that chimpanzees cannot be trained for entertainment by positive reinforcement alone, and brutal training practices in the entertainment industry are well documented. Remind them that in addition to welfare concerns, using chimpanzees in the media seriously hinders conservation efforts of free-living chimpanzees.

You may send your letter to the CEO of Capital One, Richard Fairbank at [email protected]

You can also view this alert on PETA’s action webpage.

Sample Letter to Capital One:

[Date]
Dear Mr. Fairbank:

I was extremely disappointed to hear that Capital One has chosen to air a commercial featuring a young chimpanzee. You should know that great apes used in entertainment are torn away from their mothers as infants, often repeatedly beaten during training, and then discarded when they become too strong to be managed.

Using a chimpanzee for a cheap laugh sends the message that these amazing beings are simply props. Surely you are aware that chimpanzees are endangered species in critical need of protection? You are exploiting chimpanzees for your own profits and this is an unacceptable business practice.

Please make the compassionate decision to remove the commercial from the air, and please consider to never exploit great apes for entertainment purposes again. Thank you for your consideration of my comments on this urgent matter.

Sincerely,
[Your name here]
[Your city & state]

If you send an e-mail to Capital One, please remember to BCC Primate Patrol at [email protected] for tracking purposes. Thank you!

CareerBuilder Super Bowl Commercial

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Join our Primate Patrol list to receive future action alerts and be sure to “like” the Primate Patrol page on Facebook.

Colin Redmon recently designed a new logo for Primate Patrol –

Primate Patrol logo

The alert copied below was originally posted on the Primate Patrol website December 14, 2010:

Primate Patrol has received the disappointing news that CareerBuilder plans to air another commercial during the 2011 Super Bowl featuring chimpanzees. CareerBuilder has already aired commercials in 2005 and 2006 that portrayed chimpanzees as misbehaving office employees. Despite a growing public awareness about the ethical problems with using chimpanzee “actors” in entertainment, CareerBuilder still plans on airing this new commercial.

Please send a polite letter to CareerBuilder asking them not to air this commercial. Your letters can make a difference – just this year, two large companies, Dodge and Pfizer, chose to alter their commercials that featured live ape “actors” and pledged to never use primates in advertising again after hearing from concerned advocates.

Let them know that chimpanzees cannot be trained for entertainment by positive reinforcement alone, and brutal training practices in the entertainment industry are well documented. Remind them that in addition to welfare concerns, using chimpanzees in the media seriously hinders conservation efforts of free-living chimpanzees.

You may send your letter to the CEO of CareerBuilder, Matt Ferguson at [email protected]

You can also view this alert on PETA’s action webpage.

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See also an alert sent out this week about a poll for the “Super Bowl Favorite Simian Spot.” You can comment on the poll’s page and add your vote for the sock monkey commercial (#6), which did not exploit any primates.

Newly designed Primate Patrol site! + great post about chimps in entertainment.

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Clocktower Media, Seattle’s leading web design agency, has done it again! First, they redesigned our main website, and yesterday they just completed the redesign of our Primate Patrol site!

Primate Patrol is a program of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest committed to end the use of great apes in entertainment. Now that our site has an updated look and is integrated with the sanctuary website (it’s under “How You Can Help” on the navigation of our main website), we’ll be updating information and getting more alerts out.

The redesign coincided with an excellent blog posted yesterday by Patrick Battuello about the use of chimpanzees in entertainment aptly titled Shame. Rather than quoting from the post, I encourage you to read it in full here. Thank you, Patrick, for taking the time to write about this subject. And thank all of you for writing letters to producers and directors who have used chimpanzees trained for the entertainment industry. Many people simply need to be informed.

And a big thank you to Clocktower Media for the donated design services. Thanks to you, we’re reaching more people!

ABC News story about Chimpanzees in Entertainmnet

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Yesterday an article written by Ashley Phillips entitled “Scientists Criticize Use of Chimps in Media” was published. The full article is available here. Below are some excerpts:

Constantly using chimps for laughs leads the TV- and movie-viewing public to mistakenly believe that the animals aren’t an endangered species, a group of scientists that includes Jane Goodall said this week in Science.

In 2005 and 2006, two separate studies conducted by two different conservation organizations found the same thing: Visitors were more likely to believe that gorillas and orangutans were endangered than chimps. When asked why, the visitors all pointed to the use of chimps in the media.

This is obviously an issue that is very important to us, and this research illustrates one reason why it is wrong to use chimpanzees in entertainment. There are many other reasons which directly affect the individuals being used. Please visit primatepatrol.org to learn more and to sign up for action alerts. If you’re already signed-up, let us know about your advocacy on behalf of apes in entertainment.