Were prawns harmed during the making of District 9?
What a complete drag it is to report this. So, those of us who stick around to the end credits are used to seeing the American Humane Association’s stamp of approval for any film featuring animals: “No animals were harmed during the making of this film.” But American Human (the only organization who can sign-off on animal welfare in films) has a pretty big bone to pick with the Oscar-nominated District 9: they were never on-set for filming, and never issued use of the end-credit. To retaliate, American Humane is currently urging the Academy to cast their votes for the other films nominated for Best Feature.
According to a statement issued yesterday, “American Humane has monitored the use of animals in film for the past 70 years to ensure their safety, and both the animals and the public depend on us to do that,” said Karen Rosa, vice president of American Humane’s Film & TV Unit. “We did not monitor ‘District 9.’ And the unauthorized use of that end credit on ‘District 9′ not only leaves open the questions of ‘How were the animals treated?’ and ‘Were any of them harmed or killed?’, but it’s dishonest to the public and it’s a slap in the face to the conscientious productions that have American Humane on set, meet our standards for animal safety, and have legitimately earned the right to say ‘No Animals Were Harmed.’ We encourage Academy members to cast their votes for films other than ‘District 9,’ to send the message that Hollywood cares about the safety of animals and respects intellectual property. The industry fights piracy every day and should understand that this is piracy of American Humane’s registered language.”
While American Human petitioned Sony to remove the credit from the DVD, it was too late for Sony to comply.
Interestingly, District 9 producer Peter Jackson has scuffled with American Humane before. King Kong did not use the authorized “No animals harmed” end credit, provoking Rosa to remark, “We are hoping that Mr. Jackson is simply unaware of the errors, rather than dismissive of our work and mission,” said Rosa.
Do you think this should effect the Best Picture award?
Tags: District 9, King Kong, Peter Jackson
