For Immediate Release:
January 6, 2023
Contact:
Robin Goist 202-483-7382
Parrish, Fla.— Following a push from PETA, the U.S. Department of Farming (USDA) has actually ended the federal Animal Well-being Act (AWA) license of Florida-based exotic-animal dealership Jimmy Wayne Hammonds (aka “The Monkey Whisperer”), obstructing him from lawfully offering primates for the family pet trade for a minimum of the next year. The choice originates from Hammonds’ guilty pleas to federal charges connected to the unlawful sale and transportation of primates– including his well-known sale of a capuchin monkey to vocalist Chris Brown
PETA had actually sent a grievance to the USDA explaining that the company had cause to end Hammonds’ license as his convictions consist of felony conspiracy to dedicate wildlife trafficking and 3 counts of breaking the Endangered Types Act, triggering the USDA’s enforcement action.
” Unique animals are not animals, toys, or props for celebs, and they’re not organization deals either,” states PETA Structure Director of Slave Animal Police Michelle Sinnott. “PETA is commemorating the USDA’s choice to remove this felon of a license prior to he might make use of extra susceptible animals.”
In 2017, PETA signaled California authorities to Brown’s illegal ownership of the capuchin, which led to the animal’s seizure by the state and 2 misdemeanor charges imposed versus Brown. According to the search warrant affidavit, it was PETA’s problem concerning Brown that activated police to examine Hammonds. The affidavit likewise suggests that authorities thought that Hammonds had actually offered 2 spider monkeys to rap artist Swae Lee PETA likewise signaled California wildlife authorities to Lee’s illegal ownership of these spider monkeys, which caused the seizure of a minimum of among them.
PETA– whose slogan checks out, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any method”– opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. A copy of PETA’s problem to the USDA is readily available here For additional information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please see PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram
