Movie "War Horses," American Humane, dead animals

December 29, 2011 Hartlepool Mail posted an article about the taxidermist who killed and stuffed the animals per order for the film. Hartlepool Mail stated the following,

"A taxidermist has more reason than most to be looking forward to the release of a new US smash-hit film. Hartlepool man Kevin Wilmot will be watching world-famous director Steven Spielberg’s new movie War Horse very closely when it hits UK cinema screens on January 13. For the 49-year-old was responsible for stuffing 40 rats for the epic production, which raked in $15m dollars in just two days after it was released in the States on Christmas Day." Wilmot stated "I just do it to order." (Link to article http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/local/rat_s_the_way_to_do_it_1_4094405 )

Chapter 1-18, page 19 of American Humane's own "Guidelines for the Safe Use of Animals in Filmed Media" states the following,

"1-18 If dead animals or animal parts are purchased from or provided by a taxidermist, an animal shelter, a slaughterhouse, a food supplier or another source, American Humane Association must be provided with documentation that demonstrates that the animals were destroyed in the normal course of the source’s operations and were not killed for the production." Link to Guidelines http://www.americanhumanefilmtv.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Guidelines2011WEB1.pdf ) The Hartlepool Mail article clearly stated that the taxidermy rats were made per order for the movie.

American Humane in their own release stated that monitoring of "War Horses" was "outstanding." Here is what they have to say about the rats in the movie, "For the rats briefly seen in the trenches, a trainer placed the trained domestic rats along a walkway at the bottom of the enclosed trench set and allowed them to walk around at liberty before retrieving them immediately after this short scene." (Link here http://www.americanhumanefilmtv.org/reviews/movie-review-war-horse )
They don't even mention the taxidermy rats.

This author Mary Cummins was trained by American Humane and worked for them for a week. The production company must submit a list of ALL animals and animal parts, i.e. fur coats, taxidermy, used in the movie to American Humane before filming. There is no way American Humane would not have noticed the taxidermy rats. In order to comply with the guidelines all they had to do was use existing rat taxidermies. They did not need to kill animals for the production of this film.

American Humane has come under fire in the past for the death of animals on movies such as "Flicka." (Link here http://animaladvocateswildliferehabilitation.blogspot.com/2011/04/american-humane-association-guilty-for.html ) In that movie two horses died. Los Angeles Animal Services investigated the death of one of the horses.

October 17, 2006 Los Angeles Animal Services officiallly stated "The necropsy report concluded the horse died from tripping on its lead rope causing it to fall and break its neck, which caused asphyxia due to diaphragmatic paralysis. The report characterized the cause of death as accidental. After hundreds of hours of investigation Animal Services has determined that this was a preventable accident. Animal Services contends this accident could have been avoided had the horses not been allowed to gallop or cantor freely with a dragging lead line and without an outrider to control them." (Link to Los Angeles Animal Services official report here http://www.animaladvocates.us/Flicka_Incident.pdf )

Everyone who knows anything about horses knows that you should never let a horse walk with a dangling lead because they can step on it and break their neck.

American Humane of course did their own investigation. They stated "After investigation, the American Humane Association declared that the deaths were not the fault of the filmmakers. However, the usual 'No animals were harmed in the making of this film' statement would no longer appear in the end credits of the film." (Link to American Humane report here http://www.ahafilm.info/movies/mr.phtml?fid=7776 )

American Humane should remove the “No Animals Were Harmed”® statement from the movie "War Horses." Please, complain to American Humane, Walt Disney and Steven Spielberg.

Written by, Mary Cummins, President of Animal Advocates http://www.AnimalAdvocates.us. Animal Advocates rescues ill, injured and orphaned wildlife for release back to the wild including wild mice and rats. Thanks to Los Angeles mouse and rat rescuers for the heads up.