Some of the earliest instances of animals performing for human entertainment are found in archeological findings in Macedonia that date back to 2,000 B.C.E. Index records reveal that lions were kept in cages for the benefit of humans. After thousands of years of animal cruelty in the form of human entertainment, when will this practice come to an end?
Animal trainer forcing scared dog into rushing water on "A Dog's Purpose" movie set
There are over 15 well known forms of animal entertainment but without doubt there are smaller, less known practices in different cultures and communities that are not well know or spoken about. This article will be focusing on one form of animal entertainment: Animal Actors.
Animal cruelty has long been an issue with the art form of filmmaking, with even some big-budget Hollywood films receiving criticism for allegedly harmful—and sometimes lethal—treatment of animals during production. Human fascination with and affection for exotic animals unfortunately makes them popular subjects for advertisers and the film and TV industry.
The chimpanzee “grin” so often seen in movies and on TV is actually a grimace of fear or a carefully choreographed response to a command. In order to force them to perform, trainers often beat young chimpanzees with their fists, clubs, or even broom handles. Shock devices may also be used. This systematic pattern of abuse and dominance causes the animals to be constantly anxious and fearful, always anticipating the next blow. Apes are routinely beaten into submission and forced to pantomime human behaviors that are foreign and confusing.
"Smiling" chimpanzee
When primatologist Sarah Baeckler conducted a 14-month undercover investigation of prominent Hollywood training facility Amazing Animal Actors, she “saw a lot of physical violence. A lot of punching and kicking, and the use of the ‘ugly stick,’ a sawed-off broom handle, to beat the chimps” and “all kinds of physical abuse to keep them paying attention and in line with the trainer.” The inappropriate use of wild animals in film and advertising can cause public misconceptions about the species. A survey of patrons at the Lincoln Park Zoo found that those who thought that chimpanzees were not endangered assumed so because the animals are commonly seen on TV and in movies.
Dogs, cats, and other domesticated animals are at risk because they can be easily and cheaply replaced. In 2007, Disney faced calls to drop distribution plans for its film Snow Buddies when 15 puppies used in the production got sick and some died.4 Many of the dozens of puppies were shipped to the Canadian production company from an unlicensed commercial breeder in New York at 6 weeks of age rather than at 8 weeks as required by federal law. The use of purebred dogs in movies such as 101 Dalmatians and Beverly Hills Chihuahua, in TV shows such as Frasier and in commercials such as those for Taco Bell have caused a jump in the popularity of certain breeds, yet very few people investigate the traits and needs of the breed of dog that they are purchasing. When people realize how difficult Dalmatians can be to train, for example, or that deafness is common in the breed, rescue groups and shelters.
Head injuries sustained
by Real Awesome Jet the horse
on the set of HBO's show
Luck leading to his euthanasia
Horses are easily spooked and susceptible to heat exhaustion. Because of the potential for injury, horses should never be forced or coerced into performing in scenes that involve racing, loud noise, fire, high speeds, elevated platforms, or stunts in which they are required to trip or roll. Despite the AHA’s monitoring of the 2005 film Flicka, one horse broke her neck after reportedly becoming entangled in a rope, and a second horse was euthanized after breaking his leg in a similar incident.7 A bull in a cattle drive scene in the 2003 film The Rundown suffered a broken neck when his horns became caught in the ground, and a horse in the 2001 film American Outlaws died after breaking away from a herd and becoming impaled on a hitching post.
No Animals Were Harmed In The Making Of This....
That familiar statement that scrolls up the screen at the end of a film is no guarantee that animals were not exploited, hurt, or even killed during production. For example, even though shock collars and BB guns were used to train horses for a film called Running Free and a horse died on the set of Simpatico, both productions received the AHA’s blessing. The AHA bases its ratings only on the short period of time when animals are on the set—it supervises animals only during filming, not when they are being trained for films. However, an AHA representative who was on set during the filming of Speed Racer when, “in an uncontrolled impulse,” a trainer hit a chimpanzee in full view of the representative, did not press for cruelty charges. “We’re a non-profit. We’re not staffed to do that kind of comprehensive oversight …. To make the assumption that when they leave the set they will treat the animals differently is not something we do,” said the director of the AHA’s Film and Television Unit, Karen Rosa, to the Los Angeles Times.
The American Humane Association (AHA) has been associated with monitoring American filmmaking since after the release of the 1939 film Jesse James, in which a horse was pushed off a plank and drowned in a body of water after having fallen 40 feet into it. The AHA is funded by the Screen Actors Guild, which means that it is paid by the industry that it monitors. An AHA representative was on set during the filming of Speed Racer when, “in an uncontrolled impulse,” a trainer hit a chimpanzee in full view of the representative, who did not press for cruelty charges.
Horse falling to its death
in the 1939 film "Jesse James"
Initially, monitoring of animal cruelty was a partnership between the AHA and officials in the Hays Office through the Motion Picture Production Code. Provisions in the code discouraged "apparent cruelty to children and animals", and because the Hays Office had the power to enforce this clause, the American Humane Association (AHA) often had access to sets to assess adherence to it. However, because the American Humane Association's Hollywood office depended on the Hays Office for the right to monitor sets, the closure of the Hays Office in 1966 corresponded with an increase in animal cruelty on movie sets. By 1977, a three-year contract was in place between the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists which specified that the American Humane Association should be "consulted in the use of animals 'when appropriate'", but the contract did not provide a structure for what "appropriate" meant, and had no enforcement powers.
This contract expired in 1980. One of the most infamous examples of animal cruelty in film was Michael Cimino's flop Heaven's Gate (1980), in which numerous animals were brutalized and even killed during production. Cimino allegedly killed chickens and bled horses from the neck to gather samples of their blood to smear on actors for Heaven's Gate, and also allegedly had a horse blown up with dynamite while shooting a battle sequence, the shot of which made it into the film. This film played a large part in renewed scrutiny of animal cruelty in films, and led to renewed official on-set jurisdiction to monitor the treatment of animals by the AHA in 1980.
After the release of the film Reds (1981), the star and director of the picture, Warren Beatty apologized for his Spanish film crew's use of tripwires on horses while filming a battle scene, when Beatty wasn't present. Tripwires were used against horses when Rambo III (1988) and The 13th Warrior (1999) were being filmed. An ox was sliced nearly in half during production of Apocalypse Now (1979), while a donkey was bled to death for dramatic effect for the Danish film Manderlay (2005), in a scene later cut from the film. There is a case of cruelty to animals in the South Korean film The Isle (2000), according to its director Kim Ki-Duk. In the film, a real frog is skinned alive while fish are mutilated.
Ox murdered
in "Apocalypse Now"
Seven animals were killed for the camera in the controversial Italian film Cannibal Holocaust (1980). The images in the film include the slow and graphic beheading and ripping apart of a turtle, a monkey being beheaded and its brains being consumed by natives and a spider being chopped apart. Cannibal Holocaust was only one film in a collective of similarly themed movies (cannibal films) that featured unstaged animal cruelty. Their influences were rooted in the films of Mondo filmmakers, which sometimes contained similar content. In several countries, such as the UK, Cannibal Holocaust was only allowed for release with most of the animal cruelty edited out.
More recently, the video sharing site YouTube has been criticized for hosting thousands of videos of real life animal cruelty, especially the feeding of one animal to another for the purposes of entertainment and spectacle. Although some of these videos have been flagged as inappropriate by users, YouTube has generally declined to remove them, unlike videos which include copyright infringement. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) has contracted with the American Humane Association (AHA) for monitoring of animal use during filming or while on the set. Compliance with this arrangement is voluntary and only applies to films made in the United States. Films monitored by the American Humane Association may bear one of their end-credit messages. Many productions, including those made in the US, do not advise AHA or SAG of animal use in films, so there is no oversight. Simulations of animal cruelty exist on television, too. On the 23 September 1999 edition of WWE Smackdown!, a plot line had professional wrestler Big Boss Man trick fellow wrestler Al Snow into appearing to eat his pet chihuahua Pepper.
Open sores on a pig
from Birds & Animals Unlimited
In addition to not monitoring preproduction training or living conditions, the AHA does not take into account a trainer’s animal-related offenses or violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act. For example, the aforementioned Predators in Action was hired to provide the grizzly bear (who later mauled his trainer) for the movie Semi-Pro, even though the company had been previously cited by the USDA for animal welfare violations that included failing to maintain structures and shelters in good repair, keeping a lion in a tiny shelter box in the snow, and failing to provide animals with drinking water. The AHA allowed Evan Almighty producers to use Birds & Animals Unlimited, an animal supplier warned repeatedly by the USDA for its failure to comply with veterinary care, sheltering, and caging requirements. Furthermore, no agency monitors separation of babies from their mothers, and the AHA doesn’t take into consideration living conditions or the disposal of animals after they are no longer of use to the exhibitor.
Only human stars can be sure of securing a retirement after a career in movies. Chimpanzees, for instance, can live to be 60 years old, but they stop being useful to the entertainment industry when they are just a few years old, at which point they become too strong to be managed. Most captive chimpanzees’ canine teeth are pulled, and trainers may fit them with shock collars under their clothes so that they can continue to control even mature chimpanzees. When they are no longer amenable to discipline, the apes are often discarded, as was Chubbs, a chimpanzee who was reportedly used in Planet of the Apes. Just a couple of years after the film was released, PETA investigators found Chubbs living in a filthy, fetid roadside zoo.
With a history of over 4,000 years, it's unlikely the animal actors or animals in entertainment in general, will ever end. However, just because it doesn't come to an end, doesn't mean that we can't make it a safer and more humane practice for the animals. I believe with a proper regulation of animal actors in entertainment, that this can be an acceptable practice but obviously with the system that we have in place, including the AHA, it is not working properly. I don't know if it is possible to ever create a system or regulation organization to make sure the safety of the animals is always cared for, especially because some people who work with animals are there purely for cruelty reasons.
If we had the same rules apply to animal actors as we do humans, that would be a good start. Acting agencies in Hollywood don't go to human slave owners and ask them to use them for actors in their movie, they don't hold people in cages for hours on end, they don't deny them access to food and water, they don't beat them into submission to work, so why do it to an animal? Some examples of proper regulations for animal actors may be they have to have a certain amount of bathroom breaks, they need to have access to food and water, they can't work more than a certain amount of hours a day, they have to be housed in a good property, you can't hire animal actors from businesses that have strikes against them for abuse against animals, just to name a few.
Obviously I don't know how to end or even really help the progress of this, other than encourage you to write, call or otherwise contact the American Humane Association and tell them how you feel about what they are doing and offer suggestions for what they could do better. Maybe tell them that you would like more people hired or you would like more animals to be seen and checked on, whatever you want to say to them, these are the people that have the job of protecting these animals and as we can see, they're not doing a very good job.
One of the only ways that we can get things done, is to tell people that we want things done.
Here is their contact information if you would like to speak your mind to them:
American Humane 1400 16th Street NW, Suite 360 Washington, DC 20036 Tax ID/EIN: 84-0432950
info@americanhumane.org (800) 227-4645
Sources:
https://www.worldanimal.net/documents/1_Animals_in_Entertainment.pdf
https://www.four-paws.us/campaigns/wild-animals-/wild-animals-in-entertainment/
https://www.animalequality.net/entertainment
https://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruelty_to_animals
https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-in-entertainment/animals-used-entertainment-factsheets/