‘Jailed’ Chimpanzee to Protest Hallmark Cards

Have a Heart for Great Apes—Isolated, Lonely, and Cast Aside—This Valentine’s Day, Says PETA

For Immediate Release:
February 7, 2017

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

What:    Wearing prison garb and a chimpanzee mask, a PETA member will peer through a barred window on a giant Valentine’s Day card outside a Kansas City Hallmark Cards store on Wednesday. PETA is calling on the Kansas City–based company to stop selling all cards featuring images of exploited chimpanzees, some of whom were provided by the Missouri Primate Foundation, aka “Chimparty,” which has been cited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for keeping chimpanzees without sufficient sanitation, ventilation, and enrichment, among other animal-welfare violations.

When:    Wednesday, February 8, noon

Where:    4710 Broadway (near the intersection of Broadway and W. 47^th Street), Kansas City

“It takes a cold heart to keep selling cards featuring photos of exploited baby chimpanzees, many of whom are now lonely adults confined to squalid prisons,” says PETA primatologist Julia Gallucci. “PETA is calling on Hallmark Cards to toss these cards straight into the recycling bin.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—has informed Hallmark Cards that the “grin” exhibited by chimpanzees on greeting cards is actually a “fear grimace” and that physical abuse during training is typical. Great apes used in these images are typically torn away from their mothers shortly after birth, causing lifelong psychological trauma to both mother and infant.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.