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James Cromwell To Protest Monkey Cruelty By Locking Himself In A Cage At LAX
James Cromwell at the Humane Society of The United States 60th Anniversary Gala at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on March 29, 2014 (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images for Humane Society)
Oscar nominated James Cromwell has decided he will cage himself in a shipping crate inside the Air France International terminal at LAX at noon on April 28. Why would Cromwell, who stands at 6-foot-7-inches, cram himself into a crate? The actor, who recently won an Emmy for his role on American Horror Story: Asylum is protesting Air France's treatment of monkeys. According to a press release from PETA, Air France is the only major airline in the world that flies monkeys to laboratories where they too are caged, and often tortured and killed. The monkeys come from either monkey farms, where they are kept in poor conditions, or are snatched from their homes in the wild. In 2013, Air France shipped at least 5,500 monkeys, packed into small crates for up to 30 hours, to the U.S.
In the statement, Cromwell said:
"The real horror story is the pain and terror of the monkeys in Air France's cargo holds beneath the feet of unsuspecting passengers. My friends at PETA and I are telling Air France that cruelty shouldn't fly and that the airline needs to join the rest of the industry in refusing to deliver primates to their deaths in laboratories."
Cromwell is a long-time activist and defender of animals. He became a vegetarian in 1974 and a vegan while filming 1995's Babe. In 2013, Cromwell was arrested alongside PETA spokesman Jeremy Beckham when the pair interrupted a board meeting at the University of Madison-Wisconsin to protest the school's alleged torture of cats for brain research.
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