Many people enjoy movies with animals, such as Life Of Pi, but only a few of them know the shocking truth that many animals are harmed and some of them die during filming. An example of such harmed animal that nearly drowned during the filming process is the tiger from Life Of Pi. In fact, only Water for Elephants has ever garnered any kind of criticism for its use of elephants which were trained using cruel methods.
Filming Pirates Of The Caribbean had even more tragic consequences, as many marine animals, among which were squish and fish, were washed ashore. Their death is a result of uncontrolled explosions, set off in the water to produce a special effect.
The hiatus while filming The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey also caused the death of about two dozen animals. The reports reveal that during the filming of the latter, 27 animals died from drowning, dehydration or exhaustion including goats and sheep, while during the filming of the nine episodes of HBO’d Luck, four horses have died.
Despite these disturbing facts, all of these films got approval from American Humane Association. It is revealed that the mentioned association covers up the harm that filming causes to the animals rather than to prevent it. In order to create great productions in Hollywood, many animals either suffer near to death or die during the filming, and the movies still receive required stamp of approval from AHA. Some of the biggest Hollywood movies that gained great popularity enter in the number of these productions some, such as Pirates Of The Caribbean, Life Of Pi and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. And AHA still insists that no animals are harmed during the most significant actions where animals participate and provides certifications for the blockbusters.
During filming of Life Of Pi, the tiger star known for his portrayal of Richard Parker, was saved from drowning after becoming disoriented. To save his life, the trainers lassoed him and pulled him out with a rope.
Another death of an animal occurred during the filming of Failure To Launch when the film crew managed to crush a squirrel to death. As a result, there are serious fears that the watchdog responsible for the animal safety during filming has an agreement with the film industry, thus putting at hazard the life of fauna due to the big earnings.
This is confirmed by the former officer of LA animal protection who says that it is ironic how the animal protectors have now become accomplices in animal cruelty. All these animals are subjected to cruelty when used for filming or entertainments, because of the lack of opportunity to live naturally, to express their wild behavior and being forced to live in confinement. The result is distress, both physical and psychological that makes animals neurotic and prone to develop various painful conditions.
Another example of cruelty done over the animals during filming is the well-known grin grimace of the chimpanzee, which is a result of fear rather than of excitement, as most people believe. The young chimpanzees are trained with some fear-based methods that literally abuse the poor creatures psychologically and physically, causing constant fear and anxiety in the animals. A study reveals a lot of of physical abuse of any kind on the chimps during their training in Hollywood, such as kicking, punching, and broom handle usage to beat animals, so that they pay close attention to every trainer’s move.
On the other hand, wild animals can be dangerous for the filming crew as well. Such accident with a grizzly that killed his trainer happened during a promotional video filming. This tragic accident made most people think that all the technological progress and imagination should be used to stop using live wild animals in movie making.
