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During Los Angeles Angels home games, videos of a monkey dubbed the “Rally Monkey” are played to pump up the fans and live monkeys are sometimes used for cruel photo ops. The footage features Katie, a capuchin monkey who has been exploited since she was an infant. After learning that this is the same monkey who appeared in an episode of 30 Rock that he now regrets, series star Alec Baldwin joined PETA in urging the Angels to reinvent the team’s traditions and make the compassionate choice to stop exploiting monkeys.
Monkeys are intelligent, curious, 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 birth—and it’s standard practice to use physical violence and psychological domination to force them 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, including Katie, are still being exploited in Hollywood. 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 join PETA and Alec Baldwin in urging the Los Angeles Angels to stop exploiting monkeys.