Movies That Allegedly Harmed Animals

I was inspired by Watchmojo's youtube video "Top 10 Movies that Allegedly Harmed Animals" to make this post. I will be talking about some of the movies mentioned in their video and I will leave their video at the end so you can watch. Be warned, it contains disturbing content. Two of the three movies I will talk about have been confirmed while the first is still unknown.

The Adventures of Milo and Otis

The Adventures of Milo and Otis is a Japanese adventure comedy-drama film about two animals, Milo (an orange tabby cat) and Otis (a fawn pug). It has a reworked English version that was released on August 25, 1989. When the film was first released, several Australian animal rights organizations raised allegations of animal cruelty during filming. The Sunday Mail alleged more than 20 kittens were killed during production and added that other animals had been injured. For example, a producer had allegedly broken a cat's paw to make it appear unsteady on its feet. Other scenes that were controversial were the scene of a kitten flying off a cliff and a scene of a pug fighting a bear. The film was reported to have the approval of the American Humane Society, but didn't have their officers present during filming. Many people have tried to research if any of this is true but their research always hits a dead end. I love this movie and I've watched it many times as a kid. It hurts to know that animals may have been hurt for our entertainment. I would be so happy when my mom put it in the VCR and now when I see it again I'll feel sad. I remember these scenes and I must say they look dangerous. Hopefully these allegations aren't true.

Here's at cute scene from the movie:

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

This movie is about Bilbo Baggins who lives a simple life with his fellow hobbits in the shire. All is good until the wizard Gandalf  arrives and convinces him to join a group of dwarves on a quest to reclaim the kingdom of Erebor. Sadly, it has been reported that many animals used in the film were harmed. They weren't treated badly on screen but off. There was the death of 27 animals. With the exception of a hobbled horse, all claims of animal injury and death are directly related to how the animals were housed and fed. The following occurred:

• A horse named Shanghai was hobbled (his legs were tied together so that he couldn't move) and left on the ground for three hours because he was too energetic for his rider.
• One horse was killed and another horse was injured after being placed with two highly strung geldings, despite concerns that the geldings would be too aggressive.
• Another horse was killed after falling off an embankment in a severely crowded paddock.
• When the horses were moved to the stables, another horse died after being fed large amounts of food that he wasn't used to. 
• Several goats and sheep died from worm infestations and from falling into the sink holes that covered the farm.
• Numerous chickens were mauled and killed by unsupervised dogs or trampled by other animals when left unprotected.

You would think that this being such a recent movie things would change. It is the most recent movie on their list but there are other recent movies that weren't on their list (*cough cough* .Life of Pi and Zookeeper). Many old movies were very harmful and shaped the laws of animals being treating in movies, so why is it still happening? This adds to the reasons why I won't be watching this movie. Who am I kidding? I won't watch it because I don't want to watch 3 full movies for a book that wasn't one of my favourite. :)

Ben-Hur 

Ben-Hur is the tale of an enslaved Jewish prince and his quest for revenge during Roman times. The chariot race scene in this 1925 movie is considered one of the most dangerous film shoots in history. In a quest for realism at the expense of life, the film recreated a full on chariot race. The scene was responsible for killing around 100 horses and even one stuntman. When an animal had a problem, instead of getting treatment from a vet they'd just shoot it instead. Even if they limped! Worst of all, most of the original footage never made it into the final movie. I find the things some people do for realistic scenes crazy. Sure we have it easier now a days with new technology but, was that movie even worth it? It didn't even have sound! I think it should have been left as a book.

I hope you enjoyed my blog and please don't feel the need to ignore these movies because of these events. Just know that some movies aren't just hard on the human actors but the four legged ones too.

Watchmojo's video *contains disturbing content* :

Bibliography: 
http://www.peta.org/features/hobbit-unexpected-cruelty/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Milo_and_Otis#Controversy_of_animal_cruelty_allegations
http://www.cracked.com/article_19548_the-5-most-horrifyingly-wasteful-film-shoots_p2.html