More on American Humane Association and Horse Death on Movie Set

Again, from an email I received.



Please Press Flicka Producers for

Answers

> >Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2005

> >

> >Dear Friends,

> >

> >As you may recall, Pat Vinet called AHA yesterday and asked for the

names

>and contact information of Flicka's producer and director.  AHA

refused

>that request, preferring instead to stand with the animal exploiters

>against the animal protectors.  Pat told them we would probably find

out

>anyway.  We did.  The movie's producer is Gil Netter.  The director is

>Michael Mayer.

> >

> >Pat just got off of the phone with producer Gil Netter's assistant

who

>told her he didn't know anything about it.  (???!!!)  That's strange,

>considering the article below appeared this morning in the Los Angeles

>Daily News.  Are we to believe that most of Los Angeles knows about

this

>outrageous instance of animal exploitation and its tragic results, but

the

>producer's own assistant has been kept in the dark?  I don't think so!

> >

> >SHARK Supporters, these people need to to hear from us in the worst

kind

>of way.  Please give them a call!

> >

> >Kindest Regards,

> >Steve

> >

> >CONTACT:

> >

> >Production Companies Involved:

> >Zucker-Netter Productions (310) 394-1644

> >Fox 2000 (310) 369-2000 ( Press 1# for the company directory.  Then

press

>  1 to be connected with the office of Elizabeth Gabler, Fox 2000

>President)

> >

> >Horse dies on set of 'Flicka' remake

> >

> >By Dana Bartholomew

> >Staff Writer

> >

> >LAKE VIEW TERRACE - City animal controllers banned the use Monday of

wild

>horses on the film set for "My Friend Flicka" after a wild mustang

died of

>an apparent broken neck during a racing scene.

> >

> >  The horse was killed Monday morning at Hansen Dam Equestrian

Center

>during the 20th Century Fox remake of the 1943 classic. The new

"Flicka"

>stars country music idol Tim McGraw.

> >

> >  After learning of the horse's death, the Animal Services

Department

>shut down the wild horse race shoot, then launched an investigation

>expected to continue today

> >

> >  "The horse reared up, got caught in the lines and, when it fell

down,

>it broke its neck," said Capt. Karen Knipscheer, spokeswoman for the

>Animal Services Department, which issues animal-use permits to the

film

>industry.

> >

> >  "We told them no more wild horses at this shoot."

> >

> >  Knipscheer said that, while Fox 2000 Pictures had the required

>animal-use permit, its horse handler had failed to secure the

necessary

>permit.

> >

> >  She also said the Animal Humane Association, whose Sherman Oaks

film

>and TV office monitors animal safety during filming, had failed to

notify

>the city about the horse's death.

> >

> >  Marie Belew Wheatley, president and chief executive officer of the

>Animal Humane Association, said the Denver-based organization was

>investigating.

> >

> >  She also said the "Flicka" credits would not include the AHA

>disclaimer saying that no animals had been harmed in the making of the

>film.

> >

> >  "No way," she said by phone during a layover flight to Los

Angeles.

>"The film won't earn the credit."

> >

> >  Wheatley said AHA film guidelines bar untrained horses on movie

sets.

>She also said stampede scenes require a specific number of pickup

riders,

>or cowboys, present to protect the horses.

> >

> >  There were four AHA safety representatives on the "Flicka"

production,

>and Wheatley said it was hard to believe none of them notified Animal

>Services.

> >

> >  The Fox 2000 "Flicka" production office in Van Nuys referred all

calls

>to 20th Century Fox spokeswoman Deborah Simrin, who did not return

phone

>calls.

> >

> >  Roland Vincent, 59, who was hoping to be used as a cowboy extra,

>witnessed the incident.

> >

> >  "One horse, pursued by guys on horseback, spooking the hell out of

him,

>tripped on his rope and went down," said Vincent, a real-estate

attorney

>from Northridge. "The other horse kicked him in the head, that's what

it

>looked like to me."

> >

> >  Vincent, founder of Equus Sanctuary for abused horses in Juniper

Hills

>near Pearblossom, said using wild horses in films is inhumane.

> >

> >  "They're scared to death, terrified," he said. "It's abuse, even

if

>nothing happens to them."

> >

> >  "Flicka," produced by Gil Netter and directed by Michael Mayer, is

due

>for U.S. release in February.

> >

> >  The modern adaptation of the 1941 Mary O'Hara novel is about a

Wyoming

>ranch girl who adopts a wild mustang horse.

> >

> >---

> >  Dana Bartholomew, (818) 713-3730 dana.bartholomew@dailynews.com