( EW.com ) -- With NBC canceling veterinarian comedy `` Animal Practice , '' activist group PETA is declaring `` victory . '' `` PETA 's staff are celebrating today in response to news that NBC 's 'Animal Practice ' has been canceled , '' the organization said in a statement . `` The cancellation of 'Animal Practice ' sends the strong message that using animals for cheap laughs on TV shows is archaic and uninteresting to today 's viewers , who are sophisticated enough to know that not only is putting a monkey in a lab coat not funny , it 's also cruel . '' NBC cancels 'Animal Practice ' Yes , thank goodness that Crystal , the most pampered monkey on the planet , has been rescued from employment with a cast of comic actors in Hollywood ( on a series that , if anything , idolized the animal kingdom ) . NBC is replacing `` Animal Practice '' next month with the return of sitcom `` Whitney . '' PETA waged a protest against the freshman comedy , saying trained animals are often removed from their mothers in a `` traumatic way , '' undergo `` physical abuse '' during the training process and worried the sitcom might encourage people to buy monkeys as pets . 'Nashville 's ' ratings go south . The organization claims 40,000 members wrote to NBC and the show 's advertisers . Though `` Animal Practice '' would have needed more than 50 times that number of extra viewers to have had a shot at remaining on the air . See the full story at EW.com . CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . © 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved .
PETA is calling the cancellation of NBC 's `` Animal Practice '' a victory . PETA claims 40,000 members wrote to NBC and the show 's advertisers . NBC will replace `` Animal Practice '' with `` Whitney '' next month .