Anjelica Huston Honored By PETA As ‘Person Of The Year’

Actress Anjelica Huston received top honors from the animal rights group PETA this year.

Huston was crowned People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ Person of the Year in 2012. She served as spokesperson for a campaign which aimed to prevent the use of chimps in TV ads. Huston volunteered and narrated a hard-hitting film exposing the poor treatment and suffering of great apes in the entertainment industry, reports MSN.

Thanks to her efforts, the top 10 advertising agencies in the US adopted policies to stop using chimps in ads.

“Anjelica Huston is a true friend to all animals and the perfect choice for PETA’s Person of the Year 2012,” PETA rep Wendy Wegner told E! Online. “She has spoken out for great apes who are violently forced to perform on screen and for animals who are abused in the cruel horse-drawn carriage and fur industries. And this past year, a PETA video that she narrated helped convince all top 10 US ad agencies to ban great apes from their ads.”

PETA also honored Los Angeles as the City of the Year for 2012. They praised the City Council of LA for banning the sale of animals from breeders and puppy mills in pet stores. Los Angeles also endorsed the Meatless Mondays campaign and are set to vote on a measure which will ban circuses from the city, if it passes.

Huston once admitted that she used to wear furs before she learned of how animals were treated in the fur industry. “I grew up in Ireland and used to wear fur. I had a change of heart when I learned how minks and foxes on fur farms are crammed into tiny, dirty cages and driven so crazy by the confinement that many … cannibalize their cage mates.”

The actress has spoken out against furs as a fashion item since.