PETA weighs into animal cruelty row on Wolf of Wall Street

Animal rights group PETA has now weighed in to the animal cruelty row bubbling around Leonardo DiCaprio and alleged 'animal cruelty' in his latest film 'The Wolf of Wall Street'.

A petition denouncing DiCaprio's actions and asking him to agree never to work with apes again has so far been signed by 40,000 people.

[DiCaprio: Wolf of Wall Street is a 'hynotic ride' on a 'giant ship of greed']

In the film, DiCaprio plays hell-raising banker Jordan Belfort, who in one scene throws a raucous party which features a dressed chimpanzee, played by an ape called Chance.

“Someone as committed to environmental concerns as Leonardo DiCaprio should know better than to support well-documented cruelty involved in using great apes for entertainment,” said PETA primatologist Julia Galluci in a statement.

[Leonardo DiCaprio movie accused of abusing chimpanzee]

“PETA hopes that the next time Leo receives a script with an ape ‘actor’ in it, he’ll remember that these sensitive animals are stolen from their mothers at birth and subjected to physical abuse, and he’ll demand a rewrite.”

It added that the chimp concerned was provided to the production by the Rosaire family, which it claims is 'notorious for operating a traveling circus that forces chimpanzees to perform cruel and unnatural acts'.

So far neither DiCaprio nor director Martin Scorsese has commented on the statement.