A disturbing video has surfaced of a terrified dog being forced into churning water on the set of Universal's upcoming movie A Dog's Purpose, prompting calls from PETA for a boycott.
"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," the group said.
The call for the boycott came on Wednesday, when TMZ released a leaked video from November 2015, footage of a German shepherd being forced into turbulent water during the making of the film.
Amblin Partners and Universal Pictures issued a statement saying that the dog in the video, named Hercules, had been rehearsed for the water scenes but baulked on the day of the shooting so the production team did not proceed.
The companies said they were reviewing the footage.
"A Dog's Purpose, produced by Amblin Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures, is a celebration of the special connection between humans and their dogs," the companies said.
"And in the spirit of this relationship, the Amblin production team followed rigourous protocols to foster an ethical and safe environment for the animals.
"While we continue to review the circumstances shown in the edited footage, Amblin is confident that great care and concern was shown for the German shepherd Hercules, as well as for all of the other dogs featured throughout the production of the film.
"There were several days of rehearsal of the water scenes to ensure Hercules was comfortable with all of the stunts. On the day of the shoot, Hercules did not want to perform the stunt portrayed on the tape so the Amblin production team did not proceed with filming that shot."
"Hercules is happy and healthy," the statement concluded.
Gavin Polone, a producer on the film, told Variety that he was frustrated by the situation on several fronts - the fact that the video remained under wraps for more than a year and the inability of the American Humane monitoring group to properly supervise the set to prevent abuse.
He noted that he had been on the set about 70 percent of the time.
"Had I been on the set, this would have never happened," he said.
"This movie got made because of how I feel about animals. So this happened 15 months ago and should have been investigated immediately. It's unconscienable that someone waited a year and three months to call attention to this."
A Dog's Purpose is directed by Lasse Hallstrom and based on W. Bruce Cameron's 2010 novel about a dog who learns his purpose as he is reincarnated into several dogs over the course of several lifetimes. It is slated to be released January 27.
Reuters
