It probably won’t take you very long to think of a film, television show or commercial that includes an animal — there are thousands of them, featuring cats, dogs, monkeys, whales and lions, with the list of species never ending. If you think back to your early childhood, you’ll likely remember being awestruck by some beautiful and powerful ‘wild’ creature that you saw in a film — without knowing about the cruelty that almost certainly took place to get the animal performing for the camera. As well as exotics, you are also sure to recall seeing numbers of domestic and companion animals on-screen, but you’d be sadly mistaken for thinking that they receive the same love and care as the cats, dogs and rabbits that many of us share our lives with.
There is no doubt that animals are amazing to watch, but our fascination with and affection for these creatures, especially if they are of the exotic variety, unfortunately makes them popular with the entertainment industries. Companies know that by using animals they can capture our hearts, and our wallets. But, unlike the human actors and actresses we see on camera, ‘smiling’ chimpanzees and performing elephants who may grab our attention, are not there ‘smiling’ or ‘acting’ by choice — you are witnessing real lives being manipulated with and harmed. Non-human animals do not get big pay packets (not that they would want them) or the special care and treatment given to human stars before, during, and after filming — often their basic needs aren’t fulfilled. Animals are not willing participants of the entertainment industry, but they are forced to act as their trainers and directors see fit. And, this is all for the sake of human enjoyment.