Pop tweens One Direction are under fire after filming new video Steal My Girl which features a chimpanzee named Eli. Accompanying the release were a number of images, one in particular with members Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik posing with the animal visibly tied up.
Animal rights charity PETA are now involved, saying they have evidence that the owners of the monkeys have been locking the animals up for up to 18 hours in extremely cramped cages.
As spokesperson for PETA voiced their concern, saying
"PETA has been in touch with the band, and will be writing to them again today, to advise them that the animal trainer who supplied the chimpanzee for their latest video has been cited numerous times for shocking violations of the very minimal standards of the US Animal Welfare Act, including for failure to provide adequate veterinary care, locking chimpanzees and orang-utans in 'night housing' (small cages) for up to 18 hours a day with no enrichment items, failure to supply adequate shelter from the elements, denying animals adequate space and failure to provide adequate ventilation, clean cages and proper feeding"
With the music video set to be released tomorrow at 4pm, it is yet unclear as to whether the team behind the boy band will prevent the release of the video, or edit out any parts which feature the exotic animal.
It was recently revealed that the band make a whopping £1 million a week alone, so perhaps they could be putting that money to good use- pushing it towards the prevention of cruelty to animals would be a start.
