Filmmakers looking for an ape
may be left scratching their heads after Hollywood's sole
supplier of orangutans decided to quit renting them out and
send six of them to an Iowa sanctuary, the facility's owner
said on Wednesday.
Steve Martin's Working Wildlife of Los Angeles has said it
will stop providing the fast-disappearing creatures to the
entertainment industry, a practice that conservationists have
long condemned, according to the Great Ape Trust of Iowa.
"Using nonhuman primates in entertainment venues like
films, television and advertisements certainly doesn't enhance
public attitudes toward their conservation, and doesn't get
across the message about their precarious situation in the
wild," said Lori Perkins of Atlanta's zoo, who heads the
Orangutan Species Survival Plan.
The owner of Steve Martin's Working Wildlife, who is not
related to the U.S. comic actor, is pleased that his six
trained orangutans will have a new home with ample
opportunities to socialize, the ape trust said.
Rocky, 3, and his 19-year-old mother, Katy, arrived at the
Des Moines research center over the weekend. Four more will
follow in the coming months, joining three resident orangutans
along with a cast of bonobos, chimpanzees and gorillas.
Wildlife experts say the estimated 62,000 orangutans
remaining in the wild could be wiped out within decades as
loggers and palm oil farmers destroy their Asian forest
habitats.
(Writing by Andrew Stern; Editing by Xavier Briand)
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