Giraffe On “The Zookeeper” Set Dies; Whistleblower Alleges Neglect
posted by: Heather Moore 77 days ago
About a month ago, PETA wrote to the cast and producers of The Zookeeper, a movie being filmed at the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston, to inform them that Birds & Animals Unlimited, the company that was hired to supply animals for the film, has a long list of USDA violations. PETA urged the production company to use computer-generated imagery, animatronics, and other technology instead of trained animals in the film, and to record footage of animals already housed at the zoo.
Had they listened, Tweet, an 18-year old giraffe, who was also forced to perform in Ace Ventura and numerous Toys "R" Us commercials, might still be alive today.
Tweet recently collapsed in his pen while being fed. Necropsy results haven't been released yet, but according to a whistleblower, the giraffe had been eating pieces of the blue tarp that covered his enclosure. The whistleblower alleges that Tweet's "owner" and trainers were notified that the giraffe had been eating the tarp, but claims they did nothing about it.
Of course, the whole situation could have been avoided if Tweet weren't forced to live in captivity and appear in movies in the first place.
At least he is at peace now. According to the whistleblower, Tweet spent the last few months of his life in a 20-foot-by-20-foot stall, which was barely large enough for an 18-foot-tall giraffe to stand up or lie down in. Along with other animals on the set, Tweet was reportedly kept up all night during filming, which would disrupt a giraffe's normal sleep schedule.
In their natural habitat, giraffes can live for 25 years and roam up to 400 square miles. They don’t act, promote toys, or interact with humans. In captivity, trainers often beat them, shock them with electric prods, drug them, deprive them of food, and use other cruel methods to coerce them into performing stressful, unnatural, and even painful acts to amuse humans.
The Zookeeper producers claim that American Humane Association (AHA) representatives were on the set, but this doesn’t guarantee that animals are safe. The AHA does not monitor the training of animals or their living and transport conditions. The AHA's film-monitoring unit is even funded by the Screen Actors Guild--the very industry that it is monitoring.
PETA is calling on the USDA to investigate Tweet's death, and it is asking other people involved with the production of the movie to come forward with information about animal neglect or abuse on the set. It is just as important, however, for caring people not to patronize films that feature animals. The animals may be irresistible and the movie may look amusing, but what happens behind the scenes is seldom as innocuous as one might hope.
Read more: giraffes, zoos, animal welfare, animals in films, animal safety, canger, movie industry
comments
I'm so sick of films using animals for their personal gain. Tweet should of been roaming free I hope he R.I.P and other movie makers taken notice wakeup to them and told using animals that should be in the wild or a large comfortable zoo. STOP espeical using monkey's of any kind I now refuse to watch aqny movies with them it terrible.
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I can't bear to see animals harmed in any way and isn't that what some of these stupid producers put in the films. I bet some of it is real abuse or murder.
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I recently read a book called 'Me Cheeta' the autobiography. (FSC + Harper Collins)It was a very sad and distressing account of the life of Cheeta, the chimpanzee, who appeared in the twelve Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan films of the 1930's and films like Dr.Dolittle in 1967. Cheeta was taken from his home in the jungles of Liberia with countless other animals in the 1930's for use in the film industry.
It seems that we have learnt very little since those days about how to respect and care for animals without exploiting them. Nothing much has changed.
Cheeta was given cigarettes and alcohol, drugs, beaten and forced to act, as were the other animals being used by the film industry. Some were forced to commit unnatural sex acts and others were brutally killed. The ones that never 'made the grade' were beaten savagely, taken out of the cramped crates they were housed in and sent to laboratories for research.
Gentle Johnny Weissmuller seemed to be the only person during that time who had any caring feelings for Cheeta.
Cheeta was 76 years old in 2008 (the oldest chimp in existence) and, to my knowledge, he still lives out his retirement years in more comfortable surroundings, away from actors and actresses and in far better company.
This is a humorous, but sometimes sad, book. It's worth reading just to remind ourselves how decadent and disgusting the acting profession can be and how exploitative human beings can be irrespective of their profession.
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Watch the trailer for The Zookeeper at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z75b19HbpL8
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Why aren't the Humane Society, Peta, ASPCA and other animal rights organizations taking this case to court?
No one should be allowed to own these animals for any personal purpose such as producing movies, or any entertainment for money.
I can understand them being kept in a well run Zoo or a Habitat that is suitable for their breed but for a movie or a circus, NO!
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I am beginning to delete pictures I watch at shows that show animals because I feel the ANIMAL ACTORS ARE NOT BEING PROPERLY TAKEN CARE OF, EVEN BY THE SOURCES WHICH SAY THEY DO CURRENTLY AND ARE NOT DOING THERI JOB RIGHT!!!
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LOOK PEOPLE, JUST USE COMPUTER GENERATED IMAGES! STOP, STOP, STOP TAKING ANIMALS & DOING WHATEVER YOU WANT WITH THEM! ITS JUST NOT MORALLY RIGHT TO TAKE THEM OUT OF THEIR NATURAL HABITAT & EXPECT THEM NOT TO REACT IN A NEGATIVE WAY! THEY ARE UNFAMILIAR & IT CAUSES STRESS & WE ALL KNOW WHAT THAT DOES TO US! WHEN UR NOT COMFORTABLE, UR ANXIOUS, SCARED & I DO NOT GET THE LOCIC OR THE LACK OF INTELLIGENCE USED WHEN HUMANS THINK THAT ANIMALS DO NOT FEEL ANYTHING! GET OVER IT 7 DO THE RIGHT THING! DAMN, DOES EVERYTHING HAVE TO BE A BUSINESS & ABOUT MONEY! GOD SHOULD JUST CLEAR THE GLOBE & START OVER BECAUSE PEOPLE NEED TO GET A SERIOUS WAKE UP CALL ON WHAT IS RIGHT & WRONG! THIS ANYTHING GOES, ANYTHING IS ACCEPTABLE TO SAY, DO ETC.., ATTITUDE HAS JUST GONE TOO FAR! (CAN YOU SAY KANYE WEST???)
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Although this is sad it is interesting to note that Tweet didn't die on the set of the movie. The movie had already wrapped and Tweet was back in his zoo home. They also think it was a stroke or aneurysm.
A necropsy was done to prove that no pieces of the tarp were in the giraffe's mouth or stomach--this was done within 30 minutes of his death.
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Giraffes only sleep on average less than two hours in a 24 hour period, so I highly doubt that night work was disturbing Tweet's "normal sleep schedule." Please do research on exotic animals before twisting facts out of context.
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There are cruel and negligent animal trainers, but there are also some preserves which provide natural environments and respectful interaction between species. Natural(so called) or not, the latter encourages love and appreciation of non-humans more than their total elimination would. They also provide a rehab venue for animals which cannot or should not be released to unsupervised natural habitat. The confinement of the giraffe should have been addressed. as should the access to the tarp, but i want to comment on that. i lived with cows, and was stapling plastic up to block out drafts. one other wise healthy cow grabbed a mouthful and ate it before i could stop her (petroleum deficiency?). I was told not to worry, cows eat all kinds of things that would give a goat a belly ache, and some have magnets in their stomache to prevent hardware disease from eating nails, barbed wire. The cow lived on. I don't know if the giraffe was killed by tarp ingestion or not. i think all animals deserve nice living environment and social connections. If entertaining can be performed without undue stress, I think it can benefit human and other beings alike.
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