Deer killed, bear tied with chains… Largely forgotten during filming, the question of animal welfare is revealed by a study carried out in France which calls for the 7e art to “work differently”.
Although the end credits often indicate that “no animal was mistreated on this shoot”, the reality described by 56 cinema professionals (director, stage manager, scriptwriter, etc.) in this study commissioned by the ARA, a French directors’ union, is less flattering.
“We have nothing for animals in terms of legal framework”, “no regulations and no verification”, deplores Corinne Lesaine, veterinarian at the origin of the study, to AFP.
The study was carried out between October and February, through a questionnaire sent to film professionals (cinema, audiovisual, advertising, etc.) and testimonies on 56 films shot in France with 506 animals.
In more than half of the testimonies collected, the animal was placed in a situation of fear or distress, and for a third, the filming took place under duress.
A fifth of the witnesses also denounce the confinement of an animal in a cage unsuitable for the species, and less frequently a holding by ties in a painful position, or the use of tranquilizer or anesthetic to simulate for example a dead.
Some, on the contrary, place animal welfare at the heart of the film, like the comedy “The Trial of the Dog”, in theaters September 11.
Its director Laetitia Dosch features a lawyer ready to do anything to save her four-legged client, slated for euthanasia after a bite.
The role of the dog is played by Kodi and the script was rewritten “according to him,” she says. “When people told me he couldn’t do this action, I changed. As soon as he was unwell, we stopped.”
“When I did the castings for the dog, some [dresseurs] showed me the animals on displays. Obviously, it is not harmful to the animal, but when we do that, I have the impression that we consider the animal as an object and that it will not be treated well,” says -She.
Impregnation
In 2018, director Nicolas Vanier was the target of a complaint from the France Nature Environnement association after the destruction of 500 pink flamingo eggs during location scouting for his film “Give me wings” (1.5 million admissions ).
In the United States, “The Odyssey of Pi”, released in 2012, was strongly criticized after revelations from Hollywood Reporter showing that the Bengal tiger, used for certain scenes, “almost drowned”.
But according to Ms Lesaine, controls on wild animals leave something to be desired.
A 2021 law on animal abuse plans to ban the keeping and display of wild animals in traveling circuses in France by 2028. For the moment, filming is not affected.
“Filmmakers want wild animals and take captive, non-domesticated animals. But there is a gradual impregnation during the filming of these species with the human presence,” observes the veterinarian who sees this as a form of endangerment.
The veterinarian cites “a case where the film crews came with a wild fox. He saw that there was chicken in the corner, he took advantage of it. And every day, they got him used to coming.”
Among the avenues for improvement considered, the use of special effects or animatronics could help to put animals in the cast without danger for them.
In 2019, the remake of “Lion King” used very realistic computer-generated images for the animals of the savannah.