Action Alerts
Movie Creation ultimately sends the wrong message
March 2, 2010
A new movie about the life of Charles Darwin tries to make the point that non-human great apes are intelligent, but fails to consider their own use of a trained orangutan "actor" in the film. You can view the advertisement for the film here.
What you can do:
Please contact the producer of the film, Jeremy Thomas, and tell him the truth about orangutans used in film and encourage him to not make the same mistake again.
If you use Microsoft Outlook, clicking on the email link below will create a pre-written email.
Email: jt@recordedpicture.com
Sample Letter/Email
[Date]
Dear Mr. Thomas,
I was so saddened to learn of your use of a trained orangutan in your film Creation. Orangutan "actors" are taken away from their mothers at birth and subjected to physically and psychologically brutal training methods. At age 7 or 8, when they grow too strong to be dominated, they are discarded at roadside zoos and other substandard facilities, at which time their trainers seek new babies to exploit. This cycle of abuse continues to exist because of the demand created by filmmakers.
Whatever your intended message in the film, orangutans are an endangered species, and using them for entertainment purposes seriously hinders conservation efforts. I hope you will learn from this and consider pledging to not use primate actors in any future work. I look forward to hearing from you on this matter.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
*If you send an email, please BCC Primate Patrol at primatepatrol@chimpsanctuarynw.org for tracking purposes.