Priceless Memories - Bob Barker [84]
I said, “Good! Then this dog is definitely for you, and I will have to come over to your home on weekends and occasionally during the week to check on him.” Nancy adopted the dog, and in the years to come, there were times when she got along with the dog much better than she got along with me. Actually, Nancy and I have a long list of things in common, not the least of which is that she doesn’t intend to marry again. Nor do I. Our relationship has gone on for twenty-five years, off and on. Mostly on.
Nancy is a very brave and knowledgeable woman who has played an important role in the animal rights movement. She is the founder and director of United Activists for Animal Rights, which is headquartered in Riverside, California, but she works on animal projects from coast to coast. In addition to all Nancy accomplishes with UAAR, she is a valuable and respected part of the DJ&T Foundation’s success. As executive director, she interviews the applicants for grants, and I know of no one else so well qualified to handle that assignment. Using Nancy’s notes, the board of directors makes its decisions on the grant requests. But she also has the knowledge and background to advise the grantees in the operation of their organizations. We have a file full of letters from executives of organizations expressing their gratitude for Nancy’s assistance in solving problems of every description.
Nancy Burnet, who has not always received the credit that she so richly deserves for her stellar work on behalf of animals, has worked tirelessly to protect animals in entertainment, where they are frequently beaten, starved, and mistreated miserably in order to make them perform. One of the more publicized incidents in which we became involved was the exposé of animal cruelty in the production of a movie called Project X, which used chimpanzees. The moviemakers had gone to one of the world’s foremost primatologists, Dr. Roger Fouts, dean of graduate studies and research at Central Washington University and codirector of the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute. They wanted to get Roger involved with the film. They showed the script to him. He looked over what they wanted the chimps to do and told the moviemakers: “You cannot do this. You cannot possibly do this without beating the chimps. You should use actors in chimp outfits, or you should work in a different direction, but do not use live chimps.”
They insisted on using live chimps, and he said he would not have anything to do with the picture. Roger walked out, but they went ahead with their plan.
Nancy and I were informed that there was a great deal of animal cruelty on the set of the film. We were told in graphic detail that the trainers were beating the chimps with clubs, fists, and blackjacks. We heard all kinds of horror stories about what was happening on the set, so we got on the phone and started making some calls to responsible people.
Eventually, we got the city of Los Angeles involved, and by the time the city finished its investigation, the city wanted to file animal cruelty charges against the animal trainers who worked on the picture. The trainers avoided actual prosecution because the statute of limitations had run out, but the investigation and accusations made against the animal trainers and producers received vast media attention nationwide.
I have been told that the Project X exposé probably did more to make the public aware of the cruelty to animals in the production of movies than anything else has ever done. To this day, whenever someone hears Project X, they think of the chimps and the cruelty involved with the filming of that movie. Score one for the Burnet/Barker duo!
After the Project X exposé, Nancy placed ads in the trade papers urging people on sets who observed animal mistreatment to contact UAAR. Of course, people who reported cruelty to animals on sets were promised anonymity. Otherwise, they risked losing their jobs or even being blackballed in the industry. It was as a result of these ads that Nancy received