It’s been debated since animals first started being used in movies in the early 1900’s.
Peta (or People for the Ethical Treatment of animals) is an animal rights organization, dedicated to investigating the unfair practices and abuse of animals.
This includes the use of animals for…
- 1. Food
- 2. Clothing such as fur or leather
- 3. Experimentation or animal testing
- 4. Abuse of any way
- 5. And, use in the Entertainment industry.
Peta Investigation into Ringling Brothers’ Treatment of Elephants
(Video courtesy of Peta website)
One of the forms of entertainment is in the circus. An investigation by Peta was done on Ringling Brothers, and found the elephants were repeated beaten with bullhooks prior to performing. Additionally Peta is also against Animals being used for entertainment, such as Greyhound Racing. The Greyhound Racing Association of America says the breed loves to run and thus are breed at a early age. They say the dogs are well taken care of and most live to the typical age of 12.
But The ASPCA argues. They say “each year thousands of young, healthy greyhounds are killed due to lack of racing potential or being injured or no longer competitive. ASPCA say, the living conditions of a typical greyhound is massively small, with little or no social contact.
Other less conspicuous groups like Animal Actors of Hollywood are more responsible and actually adopt most of the animals that are used for work in the TV and Entertainment Industry. The Trainers say, all of the animals are placed in loving homes, both during the animals work schedule as well as upon retirement.
Just the same, no matter how well their intentions are, there are always Peta groups to insure that all animals are treated right and justly so. According to a petition done on change.org, the following findings were reported.
- 10 billion domesticated land animal are slaughtered a day for food, including 250 million chicks and five and a half million calves
- Between 25 and one hundred million animals are used in testing in the U.S. each year
- Six to eight million dogs and cats enter shelters and half never leave alive
- 80 percent of purebred, AKC puppies are born in puppy mills and sold at local pet shops
- And one hundred percent of all circuses have been cited for animal cruelty