It's worth seeing the video--I remember seeing it when I was a kid.

The fake film won the Academy Award for best documentary.

I knew this, but now I'm wondering if the lemmings thrown by the filmmakers actually died. They don't seem to drown in the water. Unless there are nylon strings tied to their paws to drag them underwater, of course.

This one has been pretty well known for its shenanigans for a while but it pales in comparison to what was done in Milo & Otis.

The Sunday Mail reported at the time that Animal Liberation Queensland founder Jacqui Kent alleged the killing of more than 20 kittens during production and added that she was disturbed by reports from Europe which alleged other animals had been injured, as in one case where a producer allegedly had broken a cat's paw to make it appear unsteady on its feet. Other scenes that were the source of controversy 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, despite not having their officers present during filming.

...both American and Japanese oversight groups just gave boilerplate approvals and disclaimers for the film without actually monitoring production and only taking the producer's word that the animals were treated properly.

The King (Life of Pi) incident is sensationalism and not actual cruelty. It also begs the question of the AHA rep who was let go even has a basic understanding of tigers with respect to water.

Likewise, the three horses that died during the shooting of HBO's Luck was not a case of cruelty. The only reason anyone knows these three horses died is because a show was being filmed there. Many, many more horses died at that track before HBO was there and have died since HBO left because horse racing is a dangerous sport that kills horses with regularity.

The two that died on the track were running at much lower speed than a normal race is run, because of the need for multiple takes but also because speed can be enhanced in-camera and was unnecessary to really run them hard. In other words, they weren't run as hard as they otherwise would be doing the job they would normally have. And horses continue to die on the track, every track because somehow horse racing itself is somehow less cruel?

The third horse died as a freak accident. No cameras were around and it wasn't on the track. The horse was being lead back to the stables and it got spooked by something completely unrelated (which happens), it reared up, lost balance and hit its head on a railing or post and died. Even though it had nothing at all to do with HBO, the fact that it happened at the track while they were there made them go, "fuck it, we're done." Because it wouldn't matter to all the White Knights more interested in a reason to be mad than understanding the facts of the situation.

LOL, the kook talking head...law enforcement monitoring? Seriously? They're barely trained to do their normal job. No, what we need is people with actual judgement more interested in actual animal welfare and the facts of what's going on, monitors to actually show up anytime an animal is on set (that understands, specifically, the animals being used) and naive audience members to care more about facts and less about finger pointing.

None of this is at all like the premeditated or simply negligent stuff that happens as a result of cutting corners, behaving psychotically, etc. Those incidents are where attention should be focused, rooting out true evil and punishing stupidity. The Hollywood Reporter is a joke and HLN apparently learned video journalism from FOX News.

Uh,yeah...anyway...animal cruelty either did or didn't happen. When the raving White Knights make all sorts of noise in cases where it didn't actually happen it diminishes their ability to matter when it does happen. They become a din of noise that even reasonably sensitive people want to ignore. It doesn't always matter if they're right this time if they've already been marginalized because they can't focus and can't deal with facts instead of sensationalism and fear mongering.

@maxr my Lemmy LPs and cassettes did go over a cliff, when I switched over to digital music files a few years back! ....

In 2013, the BBC started to put the warning "dramatised natural history" on its nature documentaries if they used staged animal scenes

The Salon article above was more factual, mentioning the horses were treated well during HBO Luck. although it doesn't go into much detail. Other sources state "Horse racing scenes being filmed were limited to three-eighths of a mile or less. " and yes, two of the deaths were accidents having nothing to do with shooting the show. Poor ratings, high budget, ego clashes between producers, director and stars may have been another major factor in its cancellation...

Anatomically racehorses have strong muscular bodies, but fine almost brittle legs with the extremities composed only of skin, tendons and bone. This anatomical design requires that horses cannot lie down for long periods, and cannot rest one leg.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/horse-racing/injuries-that-destroy-brittle-leg-bones/2005/10/17/1129401197062.html

Into the Wild, Ethically: Nature Filmmakers Need a Code of Conduct

http://www.documentary.org/feature/wild-ethically-nature-filmmakers-need-code-conduct

Well a great game came out of the Lemmings myth, so there.