At a news conference on Thursday, PETA, along with legendary The Price Is Right host Bob Barker and The Simpsons co-creator Sam Simon, will call on the American Humane Association (AHA) to launch an immediate investigation of more than a dozen claims by whistleblowers that the AHA’s failure to adequately oversee several recent and current film and TV productions has led to animal injuries and deaths.
The group is calling for a monitoring system overhaul and will present recommendations for how the AHA can make immediate changes that address allegations, including AHA management’s alleged complicity in filming potentially dangerous sequences and a pervasive culture at AHA in which “relationship-building” with producers and directors has become more important than effective oversight.
When: Thursday, September 13, 11 a.m.
Where: The Bob Barker Building, 2154 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles
As reported in the Los Angeles Times, some of the projects coming under fire for questionable treatment of animals are currently in production, including The Killing Season, Killing Lincoln, The Lone Ranger, and The Hobbit. PETA received the complaints after it released leaked information about the deaths of horses on the set of HBO’s Luck.
“Moviegoers can’t rely on the assurance that ‘no animals were harmed’ if the very people standing on film sets to safeguard animals are the ones placing animals at risk,” says PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “The reports of complicity and complacency that PETA has received suggest a broken system that must be fixed immediately, before one more animal is injured or killed.”
