Bloomfield Senior Home Pulls Plug On ‘Cruel’ Monkey Show: PETA

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — A Bloomfield senior living home has canceled a Valentine’s Day show starring a capuchin monkey named Django, an act that PETA has decried as being outdated and “cruel.”

According to PETA, Django spends her days doing “meaningless tricks” in one of the country's last remaining organ-grinder acts. (See video below)

A spokesperson with Bloomfield-based Juniper Communities said that when administrators learned of the plans to host Django for a Valentine’s Day show, they immediately pulled the plug.

“When notified of the circumstance we immediately took action to cancel the event as it is not our practice to have this type of event in our local communities,” a spokesperson told Patch in an email. “We informed PETA it is truly our honor to nurture the spirit of life in all its forms and as such pledge to keep such archaic acts from our community calendars.”

PETA said that Django is missing her canine teeth, which were likely extracted in an effort to reduce the risk of injury to humans who handle her.

Procedures to remove or grind down monkeys' teeth have been deemed unethical by top veterinary organizations and have been prohibited by a U.S. Department of Agriculture policy since 2006, the group said.

According to PETA:

“Most monkeys used in performances are sold as infants by animal breeders and dealers, who remove the babies from their mothers prematurely — a practice that denies them the maternal care and nurturing that they need for normal development. When used for fairs and traveling exhibits, they're often locked inside cages or shackled with chains and shipped from city to city to be displayed, used for photo ops, or forced to perform.”

“We thank Juniper Communities for its decision not to subject this monkey to a barrage of strange noises and activity and to people touching her, treatment that's indefensible on Valentine's Day and on every other day of the year,” PETA primatologist Julia Gallucci said.

“Juniper acted quickly and compassionately to pull the plug on this cruel act, and PETA urges everyone to skip any event that treats living beings as props,” Gallucci added.

• See related article: PETA Protests Canada Goose Opening At Short Hills Mall
• See related article: Monkey In Diaper Leaps Into Stunned New Jersey Driver's Car

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Photo: YouTube / PETA