Greeting card company stops selling images of captive apes after campaign by animal rights protestors

A major greeting card company has stopped selling products featuring captive apes after animal rights activists said the "cruel" pictures fuel the exotic pet trade and inhibit conservation.

Great apes have been featured on television and on cards for decades, with tea company PG Tips famously advertising its wares using dressed-up chimpanzees.

Now, Moonpig, the online card retailer, has responded to backlash by dropping all great apes from its images after the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) complained.

The company confirmed it has removed all the cards from the website, and will no longer sell any card depicting captive chimpanzees.

Peta argued that great apes used as "actors" or kept as "pets" are usually taken from their mothers shortly after birth – a traumatic experience that typically results in neurotic and sometimes self-injurious behaviour that can persist into adulthood.

Many consumers are also unaware that the "smile" exhibited by chimpanzees on greetings cards is actually a fear grimace, a sign that a chimpanzee is deeply afraid.

Last year, The University of Edinburgh, backed by the charity Neotropical Primate Conservation, released a study that concluded that the use of primates in the entertainment industry is unethical because it "damages their welfare by fooling the public into thinking they are happy in human environments".

Leading figures in conservation have welcomed the change and asked other companies to follow suit.

Dr Jane Goodall OBE, the primatologist who discovered that chimpanzees have the ability to make tools, and that they are omnivorous rather than vegetarian, welcomed the change.

She told The Telegraph:  "For years chimpanzees have been abused by the entertainment trade and it is good news that Moonpig have made the decision to stop using them in inappropriate ways on their cards.

"Let's hope that this inspires others to follow suit."

Dr Goodall is currently campaigning for social media videos showing "cute" chimpanzees exhibiting human behaviour to be taken down for the same reason. She has asked people not to "like" or "share" these videos online.

Her institute for primate care argues that "the internet and social media are perpetuating the illegal sale of primates and killing/poaching them from the wild" and that it "perpetuates the idea that chimpanzees are not endangered".

Will Travers, the president of the Born Free foundation, added: “What we need are positive images of wildlife, set with the in the context of their natural environment wherever possible or, of rescued animals in captivity with an appropriate explanation.

"So, for example, the primates (not great apes) at Born Free USA’s Primate Sanctuary or the big cats at Born Free’s Rescue centres in Ethiopia or South Africa, or even the rescued chimpanzees in Ngamba Island, Uganda. The days of chimps tea parties and boxing orangutans are well and truly over.

"Wildlife news is so often deeply depressing, brutal, negative, that is why I am so delighted to be a judge of the Comedy Wildlife Awards, which allow us to smile, along with nature, not at it.”

Yvonne Taylor, the Director of Corporate Projects at Peta, said: "By banning images of captive great apes in unnatural situations, Moonpig has made a huge difference for non-human primates, both in the wild and in captivity.

"We hope other card manufacturers follow the company's compassionate lead."