Aug27
No More Monkey Business for Anjelica Huston
Posted at 08:31 AM | Permalink
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Comments (5)
Anjelica Huston has decades of experience on the set, tracing back to watching her father, John, filming during her childhood. Given her experiences with animals on the set, we were excited when she sat down with us to discuss the abuses endured by great apes used in film, television, and advertising.
U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors have documented that chimpanzees and orangutans were denied even minimal "environmental enrichment" and veterinary care in times of illness. And undercover investigations have shown that trainers beat and scream at great apes in order to force them to perform dumb, confusing tricks, take after take, under the burning arc lights.
Chimpanzees can live to be 60 years old and orangutans can live to be 50, but they grow too strong to be handled around age 8. That's when, useless to the industry, most are dumped in roadside hellholes, where they can live in barren cages, languishing amid their own waste or sold for use in experiments. There is no Hollywood actors' retirement home for them. You can see Anjelica's video about this business here:
Anjelica also spoke with us after the filming of the video, telling us how she grew so passionate about this issue, and why the abuse of great apes will never happen on her set:
I think without question that [when] one forcibly takes small simians, small apes away from their parents at [a young] age … and manipulating them into some sort of fake response for the amusement of humans or indeed human children—it's a very bad ethic. … I remember seeing this terribly sad, lonely elephant in Bath, England, at the zoo in the pouring rain with nothing but a football for companionship, and thinking, "No child on Earth would want to see that. No child on Earth who understands the predicament of this animal could possibly approve it."
Check out the b-roll from the video shoot here:
Thanks, Anjelica, from us and from them!
Posted by Sean Conner
TAGGED:
monkey business great apes anjelica huston
Comments
How can I download the video she did for PETA?
Posted by: Maria | August 27, 2008 09:52 AM
That was very beautiful what Anjelica said about her love for animals coming from her father. If I am not mistaken, I think her father, John Huston, was a hunter. How can you say he loved animals if he killed them? I hope I am wrong about this but I think I did read or hear somewhere that John Huston was a hunter. Still I am very grateful to Anjelica for giving her time for this piece. She seems like a very wonderful woman.
Posted by: Rex's Mom | August 27, 2008 02:08 PM
Anjelica Huston is so awesome. I've been a fan of hers ever since Addams Family. This makes me like her even more!
Posted by: Canaduck | August 27, 2008 02:31 PM
I THINK IT'S GREAT WHAT ANJELICA IS DOING FOR THE ANIMALS. I SAW THE VIDEO AND I LEARN SO MUCH THAT I DIDN'T KNOW BEFORE. SHE IS A TRUE ANGEL FOR THE ANIMALS.
Posted by: SASHA | August 27, 2008 08:24 PM
Maria,
Go to: http://www.petatv.com/
I'm not sure if it's posted their yet, so scout around. The videos there are downloadable, anyhow.
Posted by: Mike Quinoa | August 28, 2008 09:54 PM