AHA Announces Expanded Guidelines to Protect Animals in Film and Television

American Humane Association
Friday, 20 July 2001

The American Humane Association's (AHA) Film and Television Unit today announced that it is expanding its guidelines for the treatment of animals in film to include safety standards for large numbers of animals being used in stampede scenes. AHA's Guidelines for the Safe Use of Animals in Filmed Media, accepted by the film industry, forms the basis for the protection of animal actors. The expanded guidelines for horses are the result of an accident during the filming of American Outlaws.

"Throughout our 60 years protecting animals in film and television productions, American Humane has paid special attention to the safety of horses," Karen Goschen, Vice President, AHA's Western Regional Office. "Unfortunately, despite every safety precaution in place and representation from AHA on the set, a horse tragically died during filming of a stampede scene for the production 'American Outlaws.' This accident is unacceptable. Having conducted a follow-up review of the accident with the full cooperation of the producers and wranglers on set, we have strengthened our guidelines for the filming of such scenes."

While the Guidelines for the Safe Use of Animals in Filmed Media already outline safeguards to protect animals in stampede scenes, the new guidelines specifically address issues when stampede scenes are restricted to a certain path or enclosed area and near a cliff, hill or knoll. For a copy of AHA's guidelines, please log on to www.ahafilm.org.

Last year, while filming American Outlaws, a horse veered from the herd and the rehearsed path and struck a hitching post during filming of a stampede scene through a town set. The horse died from the injury. Work by AHA Field Representatives and veterinarians on the scene, and a subsequent accident review, have determined that all proper safety precautions were in place for shooting the scene. According to AHA officials:

- The horses had been humanely treated, watered and fed, and fatigue was not a factor;

- The horses came from the same source and were rodeo horses, thus not wild and were used to being together;

- The horses ran at their own pace to get to the other end of town, where they were accustomed to receiving additional feed as a reward; pickup riders were used to control the speed of the horses;

- Appropriate measures were taken to protect the horses from apparent risks, including placing obstacles in front of problem areas and placing mounted wranglers and wranglers on foot in strategic positions along the route; and

- In none of the rehearsals or prior takes of the scene had there been any indication that the hitching post posed a problem.

When the accident occurred, the horse in question veered from the rest and headed toward the hitching post. Once there, he tried to jump the post and caused the fatal injury.

"Our job is to do everything possible to protect animal actors – that includes insuring that safety precautions are in place, restricting or vetoing action that may cause risk to the animal, and continually looking for ways to improve the care animals receive throughout production," Goschen continued. "It's because of AHA's 60 years of protecting animals in film that the death of an animal on set is extremely rare. Yet, when it does happen, it's our job to learn from these accidents for the purpose of advancing safety."

"We appreciate the concern expressed by the production company and the crew of 'American Outlaws' during the accident review. Their full cooperation in light of a very tragic event will help more animals in the future. As a result of this review, we feel we can strengthen the protection animals receive by specifically addressing the movement of a large number of animals in a restricted area. I am confident the new guidelines regarding these types of stampede scenes will help that occur," Goschen concluded.

AHA has been protecting animal actors for over 60 years and oversees animals in over 800 productions per year. All production personnel, as well as the public, are urged to notify AHA if they witness any mistreatment and/or abuse of an animal on the set by calling the 24-hour, CONFIDENTIAL ANIMAL ABUSE HOTLINE – 1-800-677-3420. For more information on AHA's Film and Television Unit, log on to www.ahafilm.org.

For more information, or to contact American Humane Association, see their website at: www.americanhumane.org