PETA attacks HBO for using live elephants on Westworld
The opening scenes of Westworld episode 203, “Virtù e Fortuna,” introduced an all-new park to the show — The Raj. During those scenes, two elephants were shown carrying Grace (Katja Herbers) and Nicholas (Neil Jackson) to a base camp from which they were going to hunt a Bengal tiger. The elephants were only on screen for a few brief moments, but according to Entertainment Weekly, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) was not pleased, and let HBO know about it.
Lauren Thomasson, PETA’s Manager of Animals in Film and Television published an open letter to HBO President of Programming Casey Bloys about the issue. In the letter, Thomasson urges HBO to “commit to not using any wild animals in future episodes or other series.” While the tiger that attacked Grace was CGI, the horses on the show are live, and there will be live bears used later this season.
Thomasson brought up the troubling fact that “All elephants used for TV and film are trained through domination and painful techniques, including the use of sharp metal bullhooks and electric prods,” which often causes the animals to “develop abnormal behavior and become unhealthy, depressed, or aggressive because of the mistreatment that they experience.”
According to the letter, one of the elephants used in the episode has been identified as Tai, who is owned by a “notorious” outfit named Have Trunk Will Travel. Tai can be seen in a video that shows HTWT using cruel and abusive methods to train the elephants. Warning: This video is very disturbing.
According to Thomasson, one of the co-owners of HTWT, Kari Johnson, acknowledged under oath that “her company chains elephants for more than 12 hours a day,” and that three of the four elephants born at HTWT’s facility “died before reaching the age of 4.”
HBO responded in a press release of its own, stating American Humane (an organization “committed to ensuring the safety, welfare and well-being of animals”) was on set for the filming of the episode and gave its “No Animals Were Harmed” stamp of approval.
"All of the animals featured on HBO series are treated with the utmost care and respect for their health, safety and well-being. A certified animal safety representative from American Humane was present at all times during any animal action on the set of Westworld. The AHA has confirmed that the animals were well-treated, and the production received the designation of “No Animals Were Harmed.” We are reviewing the circumstances related to archival training footage which included one of the elephants that appeared in the series. Of course, none of this video was shot during the production and does not in any way reflect practices on our sets."
PETA quickly fired back, releasing another statement condemning HBO’s use of American Humane. “HBO and its producers cannot honestly claim any high ground or provide any assurances in this case,” the statement began.
"PETA wrote to the producers of HBO’s Silicon Valley about the use of an elephant from Have Trunk Will Travel in June 2016. As anyone who follows these issues knows, American Humane—which supports the use of bullhooks, now banned in California and elsewhere and the same weapon used on Tai and other elephants in the disturbing eyewitness footage—does not monitor off-set living conditions or preproduction training methods."
PETA goes on to say American Humane’s “failure to keep animals safe has been well documented: It was on set when three horses died during the filming of the HBO series Luck and famously gave A Dog’s Purpose its “no animals were harmed” distinction, despite video footage showing a terrified dog who was forced into churning water.”
"If the network truly cared about the well-being of animals, it would stop hiding behind a disgraced organization that supports outfits with sordid histories and end its use of wild animals, instead of responding to media inquiries with a statement designed to mislead the public."
The director of “Virtù e Fortuna,” confirmed to EW after the episode that the elephants were in fact live, and not CGI. “We found a nice little valley to do this, and we brought the elephants in, I knew I wanted that silhouette-y elephant shot.”
HBO has not responded to the second statement from PETA.
Next: A presumed-dead character from Westworld season 1 is returning to the show
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