People are outraged by a video showing alleged animal abuse from the movie 'A Dog's Purpose'
On Wednesday, TMZ posted a video taken on the set of the film that appears to show an animal trainer pushing a struggling dog named Hercules into a pool.
Animal rights organization PETA sounded the alarm on Wednesday when it asked the public to boycott the movie for acts of animal cruelty as shown in the video, and alleged that a dog had to be rescued from drowning during the shooting of the movie. It claimed to have investigated the company that provided animals for the movie, Birds & Animals Unlimited (BAU).
"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," PETA Senior Vice President Lisa Lange said in a statement on Wednesday. "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."
"A Dog's Purpose," which comes out in theaters January 27, is based on the best-selling book of the same name by W. Bruce Cameron. It tells the story of a dog that reincarnates many times over and the people whose lives he enriches. It stars Dennis Quaid, Peggy Lipton, and Britt Robertson. Josh Gad plays the voice of the dog.
As the video went viral, people involved in the movie have reacted with surprise and regret over what's depicted from their movie set.
Gad said he is "shaken and sad" about the footage in a statement posted on Twitter late on Wednesday.
Gavin Polone, who produced the movie and is an outspoken animal rights activist, said he's "horrified" by the video.
"I'm horrified by this," Polone said, according to Deadline. "The first thing I asked was, 'Is the dog OK?' He's fine. But if I had seen that, I would have stopped it in a minute. People have to be held responsible for this. It was someone's job to watch out for this kind of thing. Why didn't they? This is something I've written about before, whether it be circus animals or animals on set."
American Humane, the organization responsible for upholding animal treatment standards on movie sets, including "A Dog's Purpose," released a statement saying it is "disturbed and concerned by the footage." It also said that the scene should've been stopped once the dog resisted being pushed into the pool.
"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," American Humane said in the statement.
Amblin, one of the studios that produced the film, defended its treatment of Hercules and the other animals on the set of "A Dog's Purpose" in a statement on Wednesday:
Watch the video in question from TMZ below: