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During Los Angeles Angels home games, videos of a monkey dubbed “Rally Monkey” are played to pump up the fans. The footage features Katie, a capuchin monkey who has been exploited since she was an infant and was forced to perform on the show Friends. Live monkeys are even used for photo ops at these games. Wild animals belong in their natural homes, and they should never be used in any way for human entertainment.
Monkeys are intelligent, curious, and highly social animals with complex physical and psychological needs that can’t be met when they’re used for entertainment. In nature, capuchin monkeys spend most of their time racing through the uppermost canopies of the rainforest with astonishing speed and agility. But when they’re bred for entertainment, the vulnerable infants are torn away from their mothers shortly after they’re born. And it’s standard practice in the entertainment industry to use physical violence and psychological domination to force monkeys and other wild animals to perform tricks on command.
Clownish portrayals of primates wearing human clothes are extremely harmful. Even using archival footage perpetuates misunderstandings about them and leads people to believe that these demeaning scenes are cute or funny. Monkeys are still being exploited in Hollywood, including Katie. Live appearances and photo ops can cause these sensitive animals severe distress and also pose a danger to the public.
Showing this content to fans on the jumbotron could make people want to obtain these animals, which would fuel unscrupulous primate dealers who mass-breed and sell them to private owners with no consideration for their welfare or the law.
Please use the form below to urge the Los Angeles Angels to stop exploiting monkeys.
