No Animals Were Harmed...: Protecting Chimpanzees from Cruelty behind the Curtain

Authors

Lorraine L. Fischer

Abstract

Many people, interested in the way animals are treated in the entertainment industry, rely on the American Humane Association's end credit disclaimer, "No Animals Were Harmed During the Making of this Production" to quiet their concerns about animal mistreatment and to avoid supporting films or television programs that injure animals. However, the AHA's end credit disclaimer is misleading because it suggests that projects with the disclaimer are cruelty free. Even if a film or television show receives the "No Animals Were Harmed..." designation, chimpanzees cannot become "actors" and appear on the stage or screen without being subject to severe physical and psychological abuse. The only way to prevent chimpanzees from behaving naturally-from being curious, playful, and rambunctious-and instead, to routinely perform mundane tasks over and over again on cue is abject fear of physical pain. Chimpanzees require protection beyond the hollow safeguards currently afforded to them; they need and deserve a law prohibiting their exploitation in entertainment because federal regulations suffer from nonenforcement and anti-cruelty statutes are explicitly designed not to interfere with many activities that most people would regard as cruel. This author hopes that with the inherent brutality behind the onstage and onscreen presentation of chimpanzee "actors" exposed to the light, the next decade will free chimpanzees from props and human clothing, and allow them to live in closer semblance to the life they would have known.

Recommended Citation

Lorraine L. Fischer, No Animals Were Harmed...: Protecting Chimpanzees from Cruelty behind the Curtain, 27 UC Law SF Comm. & Ent. L.J. 405 (2005).
Available at: https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hastings_comm_ent_law_journal/vol27/iss2/4