Wild Futures asks Rihanna to say no to photo prop primates!

Dear Rihanna,

We are, once again, saddened to see you posing with a photo prop primate in Barbados. We are a primate welfare and conservation charity, supporting projects around the world, working with governments to protect primates and running a UK sanctuary for abused and neglected primates.

We know that you would not deliberately harm any animal, but we often see such situations arise due to a lack of understanding of the reality for primates that are used as photo props. Please read on to see why we are so passionate about this.

Primates are often exploited as photo props in tourist areas of habitat countries, as a way of making money.  The trade is a damaging and destructive practice and highly detrimental to the welfare of the individuals involved. When celebrities become involved in the cruel practice, albeit unintentionally, it usually only increases demand for that species as pets, which in turn can undermine conservation efforts for their ultimate survival.

The processes used to make photo prop primates  safe to work with involves depriving them of their natural “identity” and opportunities to express natural behaviour. It is also detrimental to their health and welfare. Young primates are taken away from their mothers before weaning age, which causes lasting psychological damage. The youngsters are then raised in a highly unnatural social and physical environment in which they do not have the chance to develop into healthy, well-adjusted individuals. Instead, they can develop a host of abnormal behaviours which range from pacing or rocking (as often seen in conjunction with psychological disorders in humans), to self-injurious behaviour. Even the luckiest of these primates often lack the skills that are a vital part of living in a social group and thus spend much of their long lives completely isolated from any contact with other primates.

The monkey you have had your photo taken with is extremely young and may not yet manifest these problems, although he/she will certainly have been snatched from his/her mother’s arms. It won’t be long before the monkey grows and becomes too dangerous to “work” with any more. Please ask yourself what future does he/she have?

The public increasingly agrees with our stance in condemning the use of primates as photo props – we received many complaints following you being photographed with a highly endangered slow loris several years ago. We ask you, Rihanna, with the following you have, the influence you can create, with all the potential for transforming this situation into something good by taking a stance, to please make the compassionate and well-informed decision to boycott photo prop primates and release a statement explaining why. The primates need you to do this.

Please feel free to contact us if you would like further information. Thank you for your time and I hope that you are able to make a thoughtful decision on this issue.

Many thanks,

Wild Futures