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http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/02/ 
0212_040213_tvchimpactors.html

Goodall Group Calls for Curtain on Ape "Actors"

Jennifer Hile
National Geographic Channel
February 13, 2004

Chimpanzees make great on-screen comedians, whether wielding bananas  
like cell phones, applauding new car designs, or trussed up in feather  
boas, zealously overspending with stolen credit cards.

But the Chimpanzee Collaboratory—a team of attorneys, scientists, and  
public-policy experts in Washington, D.C.—headed by famed primatologist  
Jane Goodall, is launching a public-awareness campaign urging the  
entertainment industry to ban great ape actors.

The group argues that the removal of infant chimps from their mothers,  
the use of negative reinforcement in training, and the disposal of many  
animals in roadside zoos when they're too old to control, make apes'  
use in entertainment inherently problematic.

"The time has come to move beyond the misuse of creatures who are  
vulnerable to our exploitation, intentional or not, precisely because  
they are so like us," wrote Goodall in a letter to the Hollywood  
community in October 2003.

Childhood of a Chimp

By human standards, wild chimpanzees enjoy a very close bond to their  
mothers. Offspring and their mothers are inseparable during the first  
few years of the youngster's life. Young chimps are carried during the  
day as the mother forages and sleep with her in the same nest at night.

"When chimps reach age three or four, they start climbing and feeding  
on their own," said primatologist Anne Pusey, head of research for the  
Jane Goodall Institute, based in Silver Spring, Maryland. "But they  
still stick close to mom. It's a very tight bond." The animals will not  
be completely independent until age seven or eight.

A chimpanzee born in a breeding center or training compound in the  
United States is usually taken from its mother within days of birth,  
often forcibly—the goal is to transfer the animal's sense of attachment  
to human caregivers. Critics argue that, as a result, young chimps  
never learn how to be chimpanzees. Instead, instinctive behaviors like  
self-grooming and vocalizing, considered interruptions on stage, are  
carefully weeded out.

"Chimps are playful, curious animals with very short attention spans.  
They also have a tendency to play-bite. All of that works against them  
once training starts," said Sarah Baeckler, a primatologist who spent  
11 months working in a training facility in Los Angeles before joining  
the Chimpanzee Collaboratory.

Great apes do not have a history of domestication, which makes them  
tougher to control than companion animals like dogs or cats.

"Chimpanzees are known for always pushing the limits of their  
trainers," said Roger Fouts, an animal behaviorist at the Central  
Washington University and co-director of the Chimpanzee and Human  
Communication Institute, both in Ellensburg, Washington. He studies how  
great apes learn.

"I've been working with chimps since 1967 and have yet to meet an  
animal that is not willful, with an agenda all its own," Fouts said.  
Combine the obstinate mind-set with the strength of a seven-year old  
chimp—four to eight times as strong as an adult human—and that is a  
recipe for trouble, Fouts said.

Holding the Line

The American Humane Association (AHA), based in Denver, Colorado, is  
charged with monitoring the use of animal actors on both television and  
films sets. Their famous disclaimer—"No animals were harmed in the  
making of this film"—runs in thousands of movie credits.

The AHA Film and Television Office opened in Los Angeles, California,  
after a horse was forced to jump off a cliff to its death during the  
production of the 1939 film Jesse James. Public outrage spurred the  
effort to monitor the industry's use of animals.

According to an agreement signed in 1980, the AHA has the authority to  
be present during any production using actors from the Screen Actors  
Guild (SAG)—one of two major unions for actors in the United States.  
"Actors wanted to ensure that their names were not attached to projects  
linked to animal cruelty," said Karen Rosa, director of the AHA's film  
and television unit.

Many non-SAG productions also invite AHA on set, though there is  
nothing requiring them to do so. "Producers are interested in knowing  
their animals are protected, because it protects them from bad press,"  
Rosa said. She estimates that in 2003 AHA monitored about 21 of the 35  
projects in television and film that employed great apes.

"We don't cover reality shows. There are sometimes problems with  
those," Rosa said. Talk shows, soap operas, and photo shoots are also  
generally unsupervised, as are many commercials.

If the AHA is brought on set, they inspect facilities where animals are  
housed and keep an eye on stunts to make sure animals are not injured  
or abused. "If we have verifiable proof of cruelty, we will go to  
courts and push for prosecution," Rosa said.

However, AHA influence does not extend beyond the set. They have no  
oversight during the years of training that animals undergo prior to  
stepping in front of the camera. No one does. That means a film with  
the AHA stamp of approval might involve animals treated humanely on set  
after years of painful training, according to Rosa.

"We would love to be in a position to certify training compounds,  
recommend some while blacklisting others, but we don't have the funding  
or the jurisdiction," Rosa said.

Learning How Not to Be a Chimp

Rosa argues that training methods have improved dramatically over the  
last 20 years. The use of positive reinforcement has become widely  
utilized, spurred by a growing, society-wide concern for animal welfare  
both in captivity and in the wild.

"We believe many of the trainers working in the film industry today use  
humane training methods. But some still use negative reinforcement. We  
don't deny that," Rosa said. Negative reinforcement involves punishing  
animals with physical pain or deprivation if they don't perform  
correctly. "Its a legitimate problem that needs to be addressed."

The Chimpanzee Collaboratory estimates that of the 2,600 captive  
chimpanzees in the United States, 200 are used in the entertainment  
industry. About 60 are kept in the major training compounds used  
regularly by the industry. Of those, 20 are "stars" that are in  
constant demand.

During the 11 months the Chimpanzee Collaboratory's Baeckler spent  
working in a training facility in Los Angeles, she saw chimpanzees  
routinely hit if they became distracted or didn't perform a trick  
correctly. "It is naive to assume that chimpanzees can be compelled to  
perform complex tricks over and over again with simple positive  
reinforcements like a jelly bean."

Chimp Social Security

"The chimpanzees we see used in entertainment are generally youngsters.  
Once they reach puberty at six to eight years old, they become  
increasingly difficult to handle," Goodall said. That's when most are  
retired from showbiz. However, they can live to age 60 in captivity.

An adult chimp can cost U.S. $10,000 per year to keep housed and fed—a  
price that becomes unacceptable to most owners once an animal stops  
generating income.

A lucky few wind up in sanctuaries like the Center for Captive  
Chimpanzee Care, which lies outside Fort Pierce, Florida, and is run by  
primatologist Carole Noon. "Other retired chimps are kept in cages by  
their trainers to be used as breeders, or they're sold to roadside  
zoos," said Noon.

Under U.S. federal regulations it is legal to keep an adult chimpanzee  
alone in a cage that measures 5 by 5 by 7 feet (1.5 by 1.5 by 2 meters)  
for the remainder of its natural life.

"There have been remarkable advances in computer graphics, animation,  
and robotics, so the film and television industries have viable  
alternatives to the use of great apes," Goodall said. But using those  
technologies can cost far more than hiring a live animal. Which means  
for now, animal actors are still in high demand.

For more on apes and other animals, watch Be the Creature, Sundays at 8  
p.m. ET/PT in the United States, available only on the National  
Geographic Channel.