'Westworld' Under Fire for Putting Elephants on Camera
by EG
HBO's Westworld got some unwanted attention from animal-rights group PETA this week. The group is not happy that the series used real elephants in this week's episode, and it wrote a letter of protest to HBO. For its part, HBO insists that the elephants were not harmed in any way during filming.
The third installment of the latest season, "Virtu e Fortuna," opened up the world of Westworld with a surprising sequence in which a new park was revealed: "The Raj," based on British rule over India, where guests can embark on safaris to hunt Bengal tigers and ride on elephants. In a letter to the pay cable network, the animal rights organization identifies one of the elephants featured in the episode as Tai, an elephant owned and exhibited by Have Trunk Will Travel, caught on camera suffering abuse during training.
"In light of the egregious cruelty and human health risks as well as the public's growing opposition to the use of animals for entertainment — and because reports say that there are still plans to use bears this season — we're urging HBO to commit to not using any wild animals in future episodes or other series," PETA manager of animals in film and television Lauren Thomasson wrote Monday in a letter addressed to HBO programming president Casey Bloys. "Considering the realistic and cruelty-free CGI technology that exists today, all wild animals in HBO series should be computer-generated, just the way the tiger was so beautifully done in last night's episode."
This is not the first time PETA has spoken out against HBO for the use of animals in its television series, with other incidents including the use of a lion on The Leftovers and a tiger on Vice Principals.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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