Dear Friends of Jungle Friends,
We are thrilled about the segment airing Tuesday on Primetime! The segment will discuss the phenomenon of monkeys as 'surrogate children' and how its popularity is a growing problem. The story should also get a mention on Good Morning America and World News Tonight.
At Jungle Friends we have quite a few monkeys who were purchased as 'surrogate children', including our most recent arrival, Andy <http://www.junglefriends.org/monk_andy.shtml> , a 7-year-old brown capuchin.
Angelle Sampey, a famous motorcycle racer, purchased Andy when he was just a few weeks old. Angelle tells her story on her website. You can read about her life with Andy and how she ultimately had to give him up at this link "Saying goodbye to Andy." http://www.goangelle.com/Andy_and_Jungle_Friends.html
Primetime's David Muir interviewed me and Angelle here at Jungle Friends. I think David was truly shocked when he learned of the atrocities people commit when attempting to make a monkey into a 'child' - pulling them as babies from their natural mothers arms when they are just a few days old, extracting all of their teeth, amputating fingers, tail docking, shock collars, well, on and on.
Please send this post to everyone you know and post on your website or blog.
After watching Primetime, please contact ABC to let them know how the segment made you feel and thank them for bringing this shameful practice to light.
ABC Feedback http://abcnews.go.com/Site/page?id=3271346
(End of Jungle Friends alert)
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Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn
(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)
Please go to www.ThankingtheMonkey.com to read reviews of Karen Dawn's new book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals" and watch the fun celebrity studded promo video.