Animal Actors

[Guest guest]

When people see chimps in commericals or orangutans on soap operas, they

tend to think it's kinda cute ... this report from an insider in the

hollyweird training of these animals, reminds me of Nazi Germany - I just

saw the film " The Pianist " and the arbitrary, sadistic violence seems

parallel to the lives these apes face to make a few people rich and give a

few more some laughs.

 

I think this was just part of Jane Goodall's recent Chimpanzoo conference in

Florida ... but it's disturbing proof of what most of us try not to think

about ... Whether we're vegans or hunters, I think this something I think

everyone can agree upon - abusing animals for human entertainment isn't

something to be proud of.

 

Asian zoos still 'train' apes to pose or perform for the public; Europe and

North America still aren't offended by apes/primates in commericials or

films, etc, yet no one seems to care/understand what this means to the

individual animal.

 

Jane Dewar

Founder, Gorilla Haven

www.gorilla-haven.org

 

-

" Wendy Allain " <wendy.fauna

 

> Hello,

> Please read this testimony. I hope that after you do, you will make the

> choice of boycotting all films in which primates and all animals are " used

> and abused " . Please forward this email to as many people as possible.

> Thank You,

>

> Wendy Allain

>

>

> Tony Smith [fauna.found]

> December 6, 2003 8:38 AM

> Undisclosed Recipients

> Sarah Baeckler Testimony - The Chimpanzee Collaboratory -

> " Serving a Life Sentence.For Your Viewing Pleasure "

>

>

> As a part of The Chimpanzee Collaboratory's " Serving a Life Sentence.For

> Your Viewing Pleasure " campaign, Sarah Baeckler spent 14 months working

with

> Hollywood animal trainers, researching the often cruel and inhumane

methods

> they use to make chimpanzees and other primates perform.

>

> The Collaboratory is asking leaders in Hollywood to sign a pledge calling

> for an immediate end to the use of great apes in entertainment and stating

> that they will refuse to work on productions that do.

> The Collaboratory will seek to get actors, writers, directors and

producers

> in Hollywood to cease the use of great apes in films, TV and advertising.

It

> is estimated that approximately 150 chimpanzees, orangutans and other

great

> apes are held at entertainment training facilities in the U.S., yet the

fact

> that most are " retired " after the age of eight condemns them to more than

50

> years of idle imprisonment.

>

> Baeckler's testimony includes numerous references to abusive behavior she

> observed while working at the Amazing Animal Actors training facility in

> Malibu. Baeckler logged over 1,000 hours at the facility, which features

> five chimpanzees among its menagerie. Baeckler said she saw trainers

> repeatedly kick, punch and beat chimps with hammers to make them obedient.

>

> Sarah Baeckler Testimony

>

> My name is Sarah Baeckler, and for a little more than a year - from June

> 2002 to July 2003 - I worked as a volunteer at Amazing Animal Actors, a

> chimpanzee training compound that supplies performers for film and

> television productions, possibly including some of yours. There are about

> five major chimpanzee training facilities supplying the industry, and

> Amazing Animal Actors is one of them. The director of Amazing Animal

Actors

> has been in this business for over 30 years. Over the course of my 14

months

> working there, I spent approximately 1000 hours at the training compound.

> The events I witnessed horrified me. I am not exaggerating when I tell you

> that I saw sickening acts of emotional, psychological, and physical abuse

> every single day on the job.

>

> Before I tell you exactly what I saw, I want to share a little of my

> background so you can understand the experience I brought to this

> assignment. I hold undergraduate degrees in Primate Behavior and

> Anthropology and a Master's degree in Primatology. Chimpanzees are my

> specialty. Prior to my work at the Amazing Animals compound, I spent five

> years working with captive chimpanzees in zoo and sanctuary settings. My

> graduate research focused on studying the interactions between chimpanzees

> and their caregivers. In short, I have a very solid scientific

understanding

> of both chimpanzee behavior and the nature of chimpanzee - human

> relationships. When something is wrong with a chimpanzee, I can see it,

even

> while casual observers may note nothing unusual. And from the first moment

I

> set foot inside the Amazing Animal Actors compound, I knew a lot of things

> had gone wrong.

>

> The compound is located in north Malibu and hosts an assortment of exotic

> animals including 5 chimpanzees, a Harris hawk, a Bengal tiger, and a

lion.

> The larger ranch on which the compound sits is also home to horses, goats,

> alpacas, long horn steer, and a buffalo, and I worked with all of these

> animals during my time there. Inside the compound, the chimpanzees are

> housed in two groups, each group living in a fenced-in cage roughly 10

feet

> square and 8 feet tall. One group consists of the three younger

chimpanzees,

> Cody, Sable, and Teá, all of whom are three years old. The other group

> consists of the two older chimpanzees: Angel, a six-year-old female, and

> Apollo, a four-year-old male.

>

> The trainers physically abuse the chimpanzees for various reasons, but

often

> for no reason at all. If the chimpanzees try to run away from a trainer,

> they are beaten. If they bite someone, they are beaten. If they don't pay

> attention, they are beaten. Sometimes they are beaten without any

> provocation or for things that are completely out of their control.

>

> I never abused any of the chimpanzees myself, but I was specifically

> instructed to hit or kick them at the first sign of any aggression or

> misbehavior. Since I wanted to learn how severe the abuse could get, I

asked

> for advice on how hard the chimpanzees should be hit or kicked, and I got

> answers like these - and what you're about to hear are verbatim quotes.

One

> trainer told me, quote, " Hard enough that they know you mean business but

> not so hard that you do permanent damage. " Another said, " Aim for her head

> because it's really sturdy. " And I heard the director of the compound say,

> " Kick her in the face as hard as you can. You can't hurt her. " When I

> expressed nervousness one day about being bitten, a trainer handed me a

> hammer and said, " If you need to hit her, use this, " and he pointed to the

> handle end of the hammer.

>

> As you just heard from Dr. Goodall, normal, healthy, young chimpanzees are

> playful, curious, energetic, and mischievous, but these traits don't serve

> them well when training begins, so one of the things that chimpanzees in

the

> entertainment industry have to endure is an initial 'breaking of the

spirit.

> ' In other words, they have to learn how NOT to act like normal

chimpanzees.

> On my first visit to Amazing Animal Actors, I met Teá, one of the three

> younger chimpanzees and a fiery independent spirit. She was the most

recent

> arrival and hadn't fully adjusted to her new surroundings. At only two

years

> old, an age when she would still be riding on her mother's back in the

wild,

> she refused to allow anyone to pick her up or hold her. She played fairly

> roughly with me but stopped short of hurting me. If I put my hands

anywhere

> near her armpits or waist, however, she would run away, clearly thinking

> that I was going to try to pick her up.

>

> For most of my second day at the compound, Teá wasn't there. One of the

> trainers said that he and the others had recently had a day-long " battle "

> with her, and that they were now able to pick her up. Part of this battle

> involved Teá " hitting her head, " he said, which resulted in a big gash

that

> required stitches. So I presumed that Teá was missing because she was

> receiving care for her injuries.

>

> When I saw Teá again shortly after this, I was shocked. I felt like I was

> looking at a completely different chimpanzee. A large swatch of the hair

> around her left eyebrow had been shaved off and a cut from the so-called

> " battle " was visible. I believe she had been beaten, and there was no

spark

> at all in her eyes - no evidence of her previous high spirits. Seeing her

> reminded me of Jessica Lange's character in " Frances " or Jack Nicholson's

in

> " One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest " . That's how different Teá was.

>

> Her eyes darted around checking out everything that was going on, but from

> my training I was able to recognize this activity not as healthy

curiosity,

> but fear. When the head trainer returned from lunch, Teá instantly became

> rigid and alert and started howling at him - " threat barking " is the

> technical term, but I think you get the picture. Today, over a year later,

> Teá is still reserved and untrusting.

>

> Sable is another of the younger chimpanzees. She is very inquisitive and

is

> always watching what you are doing, taking it all in. I was warned that

she

> would not hesitate to bite me if she thought she could get away with it,

and

> that I should feel free to " clock " her if she did. I played with Sable

> fairly easily inside the cage and didn't have any major problems with her,

> but when I took her out to change her diaper, I had very little control

over

> her. One day in August 2002, a female trainer who was watching me said,

" Don

> 't be afraid to just hit her. " I hesitated, so the trainer demonstrated

for

> me: she made a fist and punched Sable in the head with her right hand,

just

> above her left eye. Sable screamed and jumped tighter into my arms, no

> longer squirming. The trainer had to wave her hand like this to shake off

> the pain - she had hit Sable that hard.

>

> Because Sable has such a curious nature, she continued to test her limits,

> and she continued to suffer for it. Over several months between September

> 2002 and June 2003, I witnessed trainers punching her in the back, kicking

> her in the head, and throwing objects at her including a rock, a mallet,

and

> a sawed-off broom handle.

>

> Cody, the third of the young chimpanzees, is much more timid than his two

> cage mates. While Teá was determined not to let anyone hold her or pick

her

> up, Cody is the opposite. He is very clingy and is always seeking out

> someone to pick him up. If he is put down inside his enclosure and he

thinks

> you are going to leave, he becomes extremely upset, screaming loudly and

> nervously seeking reassurance from both his cage mates and any humans in

the

> vicinity. Scientifically speaking, he is an anxious, fearful individual,

and

> his insecurity probably stems from the trauma he has experienced so far in

> his three years of life. On several occasions, I saw Cody abused for no

> reason at all.

>

> In September 2002, I saw a volunteer ask the compound director how to get

> Cody to stand up, and the director grabbed Cody's ear and forced him to

> stand by pulling his ear sharply until Cody screamed in pain. A month

later,

> when another volunteer was trying to change Cody's diaper, she asked the

> director how to get Cody to lie down. This time the director grabbed Cody

by

> his lower lip, pulled him forward, and then pushed him down until he was

> lying on his back. Again, Cody screamed and whimpered in response. I saw

> volunteers and trainers hit Cody on the head with a lock, take a full

windup

> and punch him in the back, kick him in the head, and hit him with a blunt

> instrument known as " the ugly stick. " None of this is necessary.

>

> The two older chimpanzees, Apollo and Angel, are four and six years old,

> respectively. Because they are older, bigger, and stronger than the

others,

> the trainers react much more strenuously to any behavior they consider

> aggressive or out-of-line, which means, in plain English, that Apollo and

> Angel receive the worst beatings of all the chimpanzees within the

compound.

>

> From the interactions that I had with Apollo, I can tell you that he is

> definitely a mischievous fellow. When he greets his human friends he likes

> to pull their shirts up and explore what's underneath. He tries to get

> people's attention by throwing pieces of food at them through the bars of

> his cage. He loves to be tickled and chased. All this is entirely normal

for

> a young male chimpanzee. He does seem to test his limits with the people

> around him, but he was never anything other than playful and friendly with

> me. Nevertheless, I watched him suffer brutal beatings at the hands of the

> other trainers. On one occasion, I watched as the compound director

started

> punching Apollo repeatedly with all his strength, throwing his whole body

> into each punch.

>

> On another day, a trainer punched Apollo in the face and then pinned him

> against the fence with his knee. What was Apollo's offense, you may be

> wondering? Apparently, he had reached out to try and touch Angel, his

> cage-mate, as she passed by. In the wild, this kind of touching would

simply

> be a greeting, but I guess the trainer chose that moment to assert his

> dominance and remind Apollo to whom he should be paying complete

attention.

>

> And on a third occasion, the director hit Apollo three times with a broom

> handle, first winding up and hitting him with something akin to a baseball

> swing, and then whacking Apollo twice at close range and really hard.

>

> Finally, once, when I was unpacking a bag that had gone with Apollo on a

> television commercial shoot, I found an electric cattle prod inside.

>

> By now you are probably wondering how this type of abuse can go on. Isn't

it

> illegal? Unfortunately, while there are laws strict enough to prohibit

this

> type of abuse in California , they are hard to enforce. California 's

state

> penal code prohibits " cruelly beating " an animal, but law enforcement

> agencies are usually reluctant to pursue these charges. Also, most of this

> abuse goes on behind closed doors where no witnesses can see it, making it

> even harder to prosecute. The reality is that very few offenders are ever

> prosecuted, and even fewer actually serve time for their crimes.

>

> You may also be wondering if what I observed at Amazing Animal Actors is

> simply an exception - that the problem there is really just a few " bad

> apple " trainers, while their counterparts at other training facilities

are

> working in a much more humane fashion. I don't think so. While I have not

> worked at other facilities, I did visit another and heard about several

> more. At the facility I visited, I saw the same kinds of signs that were

> evident at Amazing Animal Actors. The older chimpanzees watched the

trainers

> very carefully as they went by, signaling that they knew to keep their

> attention on them. I heard threat barks oriented toward the trainers. The

> younger chimpanzees were timid and hesitant with their trainers and

appeared

> traumatized and fearful of what was going to happen next. I even saw one

of

> the trainers start to hit one of the young chimpanzees and then stop

because

> she realized that a number of people were watching.

>

> Finally, a confidential source described her experiences at another

> chimpanzee training facility in California . She said that the trainers

> there commonly " thumped " the chimpanzees to keep them in line, and also

> " flicked " them in the ears or face. Interestingly, at Moorpark College ,

> where I took courses in Exotic Animal Training and Management, a professor

> once told me that they would never consider having chimpanzees in the

> college's zoo because they were, and I quote, " not willing to inflict the

> kind and amount of punishment required to train them. " This professor, who

> had worked for yet another chimpanzee trainer in the industry, said that

> " people beat them with baseball bats to control them. " He also said " some

> trainers will whack a chimp if it doesn't do a small behavior, like a

smile,

> because later the chimp might think it can get away with more. " In short,

> abuse and physical violence are seemingly commonplace in this industry,

and

> it's not even a secret. In fact, it's taught in a training school that is

> currently producing many future animal trainers and zoo workers.

>

> And as you'll read in the reports you've just received, it is naïve to

> assume that chimpanzees can be compelled to perform complex tricks with

> simple positive reinforcement such as a jellybean or other treat. As a

> primatologist, I agree. The tricks are just too complex, and the rewards

are

> just too small to hold their interest. The plain truth is this: the only

> thing that will make them stop behaving like curious, rambunctious

> chimpanzees and, instead, routinely perform mundane tasks over and over

> again on cue is abject fear of physical pain.

>

> Three months ago, I left Amazing Animal Actors. As I drove away after my

> last day there, I was relieved that I would not have to witness such

> horrendous abuse anymore, but at the same time I had a sickening feeling,

> knowing that these chimpanzees I had spent over a year getting to know

would

> still be there tomorrow, and for a long time to come, enduring the kind of

> abuse I saw there every day. I can only hope that some day in the not too

> distant future, perhaps with the help of this campaign, these individuals

up

> here, and your help as well, the chimpanzees at Amazing Animal Actors and

> all the others like them in the industry can retire to good, safe, loving

> sanctuaries. If the market for chimpanzees in entertainment no longer

> exists, these chimpanzees will have a chance at living out the rest of

their

> lives in peace. And those yet to be born will never know the pain and

> suffering endured by those who came before them.

>

> Thank you. I hope you'll choose to help us.

>

> For more information on the Chimpanzee Collaboratory

> www.chimpcollaboratory.org

>

>

>