Peta increases pressure on One Direction after band uses chimp in 'Steal My Girl' video

The animal rights group have released a full-page advert in The Hollywood Reporter to ask filmmakers not to use exotic animals in their productions

Liam and Zayn of One Direction play with a chimpanzee on the set of their new video for 'Steal My Girl' (Syco)

Animal rights group Peta has ramped up its criticism of One Direction after the band used a chimp in their new “Steal My Girl” video.

The charity has released a full-age advert in industry magazine The Hollywood Reporter to remind film executives about the treatment of animals on set.

The advert, which reads “‘No animals were harmed’, really One Direction?”, follows claims that the band used a chimp trainer with “shocking violations” of animal welfare standards dating back to 1993 in their video.

It goes on to state that wild animals are often subjected to “abusive training methods” in the film industry.

A Peta advert targeted at One Direction in The Hollywood Reporter (Peta)

The advert shows a picture of chimpanzee Chubbs, who was used in Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes and The Chimp Channel TV series, living in a squalid zoo living off dog food covered with maggots.

“After [wild animals] become unmanageable or ar no longer profitable to their owners, they are typically discarded, like Chubbs”, the advert reads.

Peta released a statement last week urging One Direction to cut the scenes with the chimp from their music video.

“PETA is asking that the boys immediately cut the scene with the chimpanzee and the other wild animals, pledge never to work with animals again and donate a percentage of the proceeds from the song to an organisation that rescues chimpanzees and cares for them properly,” the statement said.

Trainer Steve Martin dismissed Peta’s claims and said the animals he used in the video were not “harmed or mistreated in any way”.

He added that his production company Steve Martin’s Working Wildlife had never been cited for mistreating animals and was in “excellent standing” with The American Humane Society.

A report by The Hollywood Reporter last year claimed animal cruely is still rife in the film industry, with a number of animals having been killed or injured during The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Life of Pi.

Read more: One Direction criticised by Peta for using chimp trainer with 'history of abuse' in new video