Are animals especially badly abused in the entertainment industry?

animals in movies are treated better than the actors. PETA is full of extremists. They are no different to me than evangelists and religious terrorists.

PETA is crazy, don’t listen to them.

Extremism in any form and on any topic is bad – for that reason, I am not a PETA supporter. And while the ASPCA now monitors treatment of animals during the filming of movies and shows, there is no real oversight of training methods or treatment of animals by individuals and training “schools”. Historically, there has been wide spread cruelty used during the process of training an animal to do a behavior unnatural or unknown to them.

You should also keep in mind that creatures that are bred (or captured) and maintained specifically for the purpose of performance is by definition exploitation. Should orcas and porpoises that would naturally range over hundreds if not thousands of miles of open ocean be kept in a small cement tank merely for our entertainment? (The claim of “education” is specious.) Should a Siberian tiger that normally has a range of several hundred square miles live in a cage so he can jump through a flaming hoop for three shows a day? There are many definitions of cruelty.

More information:

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/animal-cruelty-animal-abuse-facts-statistics.html

http://www.squidoo.com/animalabuse

http://www.americanhumane.org/protecting-animals/programs/no-animals-were-harmed/

Thanks everybody. I agree that PETA is over the top. I do think they serve a purpose though. Animals need a lobby. Bummer it doesn’t seem to be a particularly smart and diplomatic lobby at the moment, but better a passionate and pain in the ass lobby than none at all. I think.