Warner Bros & New Line Cinema Deny ‘Hobbit’ Animal Abuse Allegations

COMMENTS (7)

• I recall a similar story when a disclaimer regarding no trees were being damaged was added to “where the wild things are”. Different story from what the cast and crew reported to company staff…. Money talks, Mortals walk and everyone turns a blind eye!

  Comment by Tim Elson — Tuesday November 20, 2012 @ 9:08pm PST  Reply to this post

• A young woman was left severely disabled on the set of one of the Transformers movies – it barely made the evening news and the film was a monster hit. Now, a couple of donkeys die and everyone loses their shit. What a messed up world we live in.

  Comment by a donkey died - big fucking deal — Tuesday November 20, 2012 @ 11:53pm PST  Reply to this post

• Hard to take seriously any allegation coming from the organization who freaked out when President Obama killed a fly in an ABC interview… I’d like second opinion – PETA has no credibility.

  Comment by Former SAG Board Member — Wednesday November 21, 2012 @ 12:45am PST  Reply to this post

• Peta is now getting up in arms over the president “pardoning” a turkey for Thanksgiving saying the Turkey did nothing that needs to be pardoned. Seriously.

  Comment by thephantomcat — Wednesday November 21, 2012 @ 10:50am PST  Reply to this post

• How can you pretend to “deny allegations” when animals are DEAD because of your production. Deaths are not allegations. They’re verifiable facts. I’m very disappointed in Peter Jackson, Warners, et al defending something so callous and hideous. Obviously animal welfare wasn’t paramount on this film. It wasn’t even on the agenda. A pony was left to die in a ditch with a broken back all night long. This whole production is a disgrace and I will not be supporting. SHAME ON YOU! SHAME ON WARNERS FOR DEFENDING THIS!

  Comment by No longer a fan of Peter Jackson — Wednesday November 21, 2012 @ 11:15am PST  Reply to this post

• No Longer A Fan-

  You seem confused or victimized by your own bait-and-switch routine. The allegation from PETA was not that “animals are dead,” but rather that “the production killed the animals.”

  The fact is that animals are dead, but not due to the production. Hence the official denial to that fact.

  Animal welfare by all appearances was on the production’s agenda.

  PETA’s agenda is another matter entirely. It no longer appears to be animal welfare but ending animal use in film to be replaced by cgi. Hence, the reason why they would like or twist the truth to sensationalize this cause.

  Comment by Silly But True — Wednesday November 21, 2012 @ 1:06pm PST  Reply to this post

• The person who is most at fault is not Peter Jackson. It is the Animal Coordinator Steve Old.
  He was responsible for leasing that farm which was a hilly sheep farm unsuitable for horses. Several other suitable properties were put forward by the horse trainer.
  Old was also responsible for hiring staff that were not qualified to look after horses and vetoed every attempt of the horse trainer to hire suitable staff. He also prevented the horse trainer from making sensible training decisions. He insisted on his girlfriend training horses even though she was not qualified to even be riding them and caused many problems with their training when she did ride them. He also insisted on other unqualified people being allowed to ride horses.
  Steve Old also did not put any safe and appropriate training facilities in place. This was because he wanted to ensure he got the job by coming in under the budget outlined by another more qualified Animal Coordinator. He prevented the horse trainer from putting any facilities in place other than those that the horse trainer paid for out of his own pocket.
  Steve Old turned a blind eye to wilful abuse of animals – one case in which his own father was the abuser of a pig. This same person – Les Old – also sexually harassed a female staff member. When she told Steve that Les had groped her Steve fired her.
  Steve used production money and resources on his own private projects such as The Great NZ Trek. He pulled staff members away from caring for the animals on the film and sent them to do work on projects elsewhere during which time they were paid with film money.
  He bullied staff members into keeping quiet about any negative aspects of their work and told them they would be fired if they didn’t fall into line.
  The head horse trainer, another horse trainer and other wranglers resigned from the film after two months because their complaints about animal welfare were ignored and were not passed on to people higher up in the chain of command. Emails were sent after they resigned (in Feb2011) detailing everything that was dangerous and needed to be rectified. I understand that these emails have only recently been passed on to Peter Jackson.

  Comment by CensorshipMuch? — Saturday November 24, 2012 @ 2:51am PST  Reply to this post