Animal abuse is no laughing matter

I was offended by your publication of the “cute” photo of a capuchin monkey dressed up as a jockey, riding on a border collie [Metro, Sept. 3].

The action itself — dressing monkeys in human clothing and training them to do tricks solely for human entertainment and money — is insulting to the natural identity of these animals. Publishing these types of photos encourages the use of the unfortunate animals as human playthings.

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My dad trained chimpanzees at the Detroit Zoo in the 1950s and ’60s, when zoos dressed the animals in costumes and forced them to play the buffoon, before they shipped the chimps out to research laboratories after they got too obstinate for the shows.

Pictures such as The Post’s are throwbacks to the bad old days and reinforce the image of primates as mere jokes. They encourage people to own these animals, something that should not be taken on lightly. People can do more for primates by spending their money and energy on protecting the animals in the wild, where they belong.

Dawn Forsythe, Silver Spring

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●Oh, no, say it ain’t so. “The last roundup,” as you captioned your picture, should indeed be the last. Monkeys riding border collies is just wrong.

Harrisburg Senators, you can do better.

Charlotte A.M. Gallagher, Springfield