19 December,2013 11:28 PM IST | | ANI
In one scene of the film, the 39-year-old actor is seen dragging the chimpanzee named Chance through an office party, Metro.co.uk reported.
According to PETA, the chimp was provided by the Rosaire family, notorious for operating a traveling circus that forces chimpanzees to perform cruel and unnatural acts.
PETA's primatologist Julia Gallucci wrote in an online petition that someone as committed to environmental concerns, as DiCaprio should know better than to support the well-documented cruelty involved in using great apes for entertainment.
She added that PETA is hopes that the next time DiCaprio gets a script with an ape in it, he will remember that the apes are stolen from their mothers at birth and subjected to physical abuse - and he'll demand a rewrite.u00a0