Peter Jackson Says There Was No Animal Bloodbath While Filming The Hobbit

There was a report over the weekend that the filming of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey had been a veritable bloodbath. Alleging that 27 animals went to animal heaven at the same time as Twinkies went to wherever it is apparently infallible, post-apocalyptic chemical spills go when they expire (RIP Hostess). About which PETA and the American Humane Society obviously lost their collective s**t and came at the same time. Reportedly, four of the trainers came forward to expose the alleged animal deaths including ‘three horses and numerous sheep, goats, and chickens.’ But Jackson says the animals neither went to Academy of Try heaven nor are they on a farm with a nice family: ‘The producers completely reject the accusations that twenty seven animals died due to mistreatment during the making of the films. Extraordinary measures were taken to make sure that animals were not used during action sequences or any other sequence that might create undue stress for the animals involved. Over fifty five per cent of all shots using animals in The Hobbit are in fact computer generated; this includes horses, ponies, rabbits, hedgehogs, birds, deer, elk, mice, wild boars, and wolves. The American Humane Association (AHA) was on hand to monitor all use of animals by the production. No animals died or were harmed on set during filming. We regret that some of these accusations by wranglers who were dismissed from the film over a year ago are only now being brought to our attention.’

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