Are our animal actors safe and unharmed during the shooting of films? Know the truth here and see how it is concealed under the statement ‘No animals were harmed’ credit at the end of films!

• There are several animals and birds used during the film shoots.
• Of course, the animals are unaware of what humans are making them do and as trained they do the work.

But the welfare of these animals resides with the production of the film. It was as early as 1939 during the shoot of the film Jesse James that a horse was made to jump over a 70 feet high cliff into a body of water with the stuntman atop.

The result: the stuntman only lost his hat as he fell into the river but the horse suffered a grave back injury due to which he later died!

American Humane Association (AHA) was put into the responsible position to oversee and monitor the safety and welfare of the animals on the set of the movie which uses them!

If the AHA felt that all due care has been taken care during the production and no animal was harmed or killed, it issues a certificate to the production house which is put as a stamp at the end of the film stating that no animal was harmed in the process.

But it has been revealed that despite the certificate, there have been cases reported where the animals were harmed and some even killed during the film shoot! How horrible!

AHA has not only turned a blind eye to these facts but also covered up the crimes by issuing the ‘No animals were harmed’ stamp to the concerned film.

Here is a list of some of the movies where animals were seriously injured or killed during the shoot!

1. Life of Pi- In this 2012 survival drama film, Pi talks about how his family dies in a shipwreck while he is drifting into the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal Tiger. It was a great success and also was liked by the critics. The Bengal Tiger has a shoot where he is shown in the seawater and the scene was shot in a water tank in Taiwan. But during the shoot for the scene, the tiger almost drowned and had to be pulled with a catch rope to the side of the tank. But this near-drowning incident was witnessed by an AHA representative named Gina Johnson but she completely concealed the fact. She wrote an email to a colleague describing the ill-treatment of the animal but decided to keep mum about it. She wrote:

“This one take with him just went really bad and he got lost trying to swim to the side. Damn near drowned. I think this goes without saying but don’t mention anything to anyone! Especially the office. Have downplayed the fuck out of it.”

• The Hobbit: An unexpected journey- This 2012 release and high fantasy adventure movie were filmed in New Zealand. There was a New Zealand farm on which a major part of the film was shot. But it has been reliably learned that during the shoot, 27 animals mainly sheep and goats had perished due to dehydration, drowning, and exhaustion. An animal trainer had notified AHA about these deaths but was told that since the deaths had taken place off-sets, it was not under the purview of the AHA to investigate the matter. The film also got the no animals were harmed stamp.
• Luck- This TV series was about a horse-racing drama and premiered on HBO in 2012. However, less than 2 months later the show was canceled. Reason: 4 horses had died during the shoot of the pilot and later episodes.

  

• Eight Below- This was again a survival drama film based on Antarctica which was released in 2006. It was a successful movie and earned enormously but it was reported that a dog was badly punched in the diaphragm during the filming.
• Failure to Launch- This 2006 American romantic comedy film grossed more than $ 128 million. It was not revealed to the public that during the shoot, a chipmunk was seriously hurt.

Pirates of the Caribbean- In the 2003 version of this film, when the filming was carried out, dozens of dead fish and squids washed ashore. It was likely due to human intervention but it was never reported.

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