Alan Cumming Urges End to Pet Primate Trade
This summer, AWI worked with Emmy and Tony Award–winning actor Alan Cumming on a video in support of the Captive Primate Safety Act (HR 3199/S 1594) that was posted on AWI social media platforms on July 11. The bill, reintroduced in Congress by Reps. Mike Quigley (D-IL), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Julia Brownley (D-CA), and Nancy Mace (R-SC) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), would end the cruel and dangerous pet primate trade in the United States. For Cumming, this issue is personal. He first met a young chimpanzee named Tonka while working on the 1997 movie Buddy. Years later, Cumming discovered that Tonka was caged in a basement and living a life of extreme confinement. Tonka’s story, featured in the 2024 docuseries Chimp Crazy, is just one of countless heart-wrenching examples of primates suffering in captivity. Watch the video on Instagram.
Program Terms: Terrestrial Wildlife
AWI Quarterly Terms: Government/Legal, Quick Read
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