The group said the outside expert, whose name was withheld because of the public outcry following the video’s release, found it to be a misrepresentation of events. The board-certified veterinarian, who was not identified, concluded that the dog was momentarily stressed but suffered no lasting ill effects.
a movie that captures the beauty and pain of loving a pet." After seeing the disturbing video, however, he said he was "shaken and sad to see any animal put in a situation against his its will.Leaked video showing a frightened dog being forced into churning water during filming of “ A Dog’s Purpose” was misleadingly edited and the German shepherd was unharmed, according to third-party findings released by American Humane, the group responsible for overseeing animal safety on the movie set.Īn independent animal-cruelty expert found that preventative safety measures were in place to protect the dog, Hercules, American Humane said. Gad said that upon originally lending his voice in the screening room, "I was beyond touched and moved by what I saw. Josh Gad, who voices dog character Bailey in the film, tweeted his shock following the discovery of the video. On the day of the shoot, ?Hercules did not want to perform the stunt portrayed on the tape so the Amblin production team did not proceed with filming that shot.
There were several days of rehearsal of the water scenes to ensure Hercules was comfortable with all of the stunts. While we continue to review the circumstances shown in the edited footage, Amblin is confident that great care and concern was shown for the German Shepherd Hercules, as well as for all of the other dogs featured throughout the production of the film. Meanwhile, Amblin, the production company behind A Dog's Purpose, released the following statement Wednesday night, via Deadline: Amblin production team followed rigorous protocols to foster an ethical and safe environment for the animals. We are placing the safety representative who was on the set on administrative leave immediately and are bringing in an independent third party to conduct an investigation into this matter.
When the dog showed signs of resistance to jumping in the water, the scene should have been stopped. PETA's investigation at BAU revealed that animals are denied veterinary care, forced to sleep outdoors in the cold without bedding for warmth, made to live in filthy conditions, and more.Īmerican Humane, which had a representative on set during the filming of the scene issued the following statement, via Deadline: American Humane has reviewed the video and we are disturbed and concerned by the footage. PETA is calling on dog lovers to boycott the film in order to send the message that dogs and other animals should be treated humanely, not as movie props. At one point, a dog who is in danger of drowning has to be rescued. PETA, which according to Deadline, is asking moviegoers to boycott the film, has released the following statement in the aftermath of the video being released: PETA released a video expose of Hollywood animal supplier Birds & Animals Unlimited (BAU), which claimed to a PETA eyewitness they provided dogs used in the film A Dog's Purpose, new footage shows a terrified dog who is forced into churning water on set. I know the studio is outraged and investigating this." All I can say is that I hope that bringing this out leads to better treatment of animals. "I wasn't there for the second unit," Polone said.
Polone was not on set while filming of the scene occurred, but said had he been, he would have put a stop to it. To make sure they are treated properly at all times. I agree with PETA that they not only need to make sure animals are treated properly on set, but they also need to find out where the animals are kept outside of the set. Why wasn't this stopped? There needs to be a better system than this. That's their job that someone is paid a lot of money to do. American Humane are supposed to be there supervising. Why didn't they? This is something I've written about before, whether it be circus animals or animals on set. It was someone's job to watch out for this kind of thing. People have to be held responsible for this. But if I had seen that, I would have stopped it in a minute. Deadline spoke with Gavin Polone, a producer on the film and noted animal rights activist, who said he was "horrified" by what happened during filming: The first thing I asked was, 'Is the dog OK?' He's fine. Since the video was released, responses have been pouring in from fans, producers and stars of the movie and animal rights groups.