Following an unsatisfactory reply from the BBC Complaints Team to our letter about the continued use of performing primates in their programming, we've reiterated our concerns, and again requested a meeting with BBC officials to discuss the matter.
In April, the AfA Macaque Coalition, together with the Primate Society of Great Britain and the IUCN Primate Specialist Group Section for Human-Primate Interactions, asked both BBC and Netflix to stop using performing primates in their programming. The letter was prompted by the use of a young pig-tailed macaque in the recent co-production The Serpent, but described a host of problems that are inherent in the use of any performing primate.
The public is increasingly aware that the use of performing primates is inhumane on an individual level, increases the demand for primates as pets and compromises conservation efforts worldwide. Assurances that the individuals used in any particular production were "well-treated on set" are not good enough. We believe that policies prohibiting such use would be very well received, and it is beyond time that the BBC introduced such a policy. We hope that our offer of a meeting on the matter will be accepted by the BBC and that together, we can make progress on the issue.