I guess I need to repost what I said to you in your unnecessary private message? -_-:
Actually, I think you might need to brush up. PETA is an extremist organization. They have NOT done their research.
If you were to read closely, the wranglers accusing the production of the "killings" of these animals were wranglers that were fired from the production well over a year ago for treating animals FAR below the standards of the production and NZ animal laws.
Peter Jackson released a statement about it on his Facebook a few days ago:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/peter-jackson/animal-allegations-on-the-hobbit/10151300381651558
Within the statement he gives several OTHER statements from animal owners and trusted wranglers from the crew.
The wranglers making these accusations are SOUR GRAPES. They were fired for mistreating animals. Their claims are false.
From the official statement from Peter:
To date, the only horse wranglers whose treatment of animals fell below the production’s standard of care seem to be the two wranglers who have chosen to level this new accusation on the eve of the premiere of the first Hobbit film and who were dismissed by the production over a year ago. Reports of their actions are documented in several written statements dating back to October 2011.
The production regrets that PETA has chosen to make such a serious accusation, which has distressed many of the dedicated Kiwis who worked with animals on the films - including trainers, wranglers, care-givers, farm workers and animal health care professionals - without properly vetting the source from which they received this information.
Never trust what PETA goes after. They go blindly after stupid accusations to get the spotlight shifted their way. They do more harm to animals than good and actually have a high animal KILL RATE in their "shelters". If you want to support a good animal organization, no kill shelter, support your local humane society, as their funding is low and they can only take so many at a time.
Being a huge Tolkien fan and a huge fan of Peter Jackson, I've kept up with this story from the beginning, so please don't assume
. I believe my last post on the thread was the update from Peter.
If you believe anything PETA says, I honestly don't feel sorry for you. NZ has very strict animal laws, and if you are or were a fan of the production of LotR, you would know that not a single animal was left unloved; and there were far more animals in that production than on the Hobbit. At the end of the production, all animals went back to their respective, loving homes, or were retired into new ones. Viggo Mortensen himself bought two horses; his horse Brego, and the horse who played Asafaloth for the Arwen stunt women who loved the horse, but couldn't afford him.
Peter Jackson himself owns 3 pigs and let them be in the Hobbiton scenes in the Hobbit. On top of the fact he had tons of people donating their own animals to be used in the film. It seems not one of them came back with a scratch on them. The main horse that apparently was "hobbled", Shanghai, came back in better shape than ever. His own owner stated so:
“I am 100% happy with the return of Shanghai and his condition. In the term that he was leased he was picked up and returned to me two times. On both occasions there was not a mark on him and he was healthy and happy. He has shown no signs of ill-treatment. I would not hesitate in leasing him to the movie again.”