Is this horse still alive? (Warner Brothers)

Earlier today, The Observer wrote an article that detailed the controversy surrounding the deaths of 27 animals at a Warner Brothers-owned farm in New Zealand. The Wellington farm housed trained animals for Warner's $500 million production of The Hobbit.

While we cast some doubt over the timeline of the events that apparently exonerated both Peter Jackson and the American Humane Association (which is the only organization allowed to issue those "No Animals Were Harmed"™ disclaimers) from investigating the deaths, PETA--which is protesting the film's release--offered us some insight into the matter.

From our inbox:

Thank you for your thoughtful and challenging piece on The Hobbit. I can address this:

"The timeline is also dubious, because the wranglers who stepped forward to identify themselves to the press—Chris Langridge, Lynn Langridge and Johnny Smythe—had all complained about the conditions of the animals during 2011, and were either fired for arguing with their bosses, or quit in frustration after getting no reply from management about the letters they sent. Letters about horses with broken backs and sliced-open legs, and mysterious cover-ups on autopsy reports."

The whistleblowers initially came to PETA in September this year after seeing that we exposed the deaths on Luck as well as issues on more than a dozen AHA-monitored films. (I put AP in touch with them.) Johnny Smythe had initially tried to get press attention on the horse deaths in 2011, but it never got out of a local paper in New Zealand.

American Humane inspects housing all the time, so I don’t know why they’re pretending they don’t. And they certainly knew of issues as far back as 2011. Below is an email sent to them by a New Zealand reporter in November 2011, which was leaked to us. AHA also acknowledges in its review of the film that it wasn’t present for all filming of animals, so I don’t know how Mr. Jackson can claim they were.

All best,
Kathy Guillermo
Senior Vice President
--
From: Tom Hunt [mailto:Tom.Hunt@dompost.co.nz]
Sent: Sunday, November 06, 2011 4:18 PM
To: Media American Humane
Subject:

Hi,
I am a reporter for New Zealand newspaper The Dominion Post.
I received a tip this morning that animals being used in the making of the Hobbit films have been mistreated. According to the person who gave me the tip, so far 3 horses, 6 goats, and 5 sheep have all died preventable deaths.
In one case I understand a small pony was put in a paddock with a larger, violent horse, which killed it. Another horse fell off a bluff, and another died from being given too much 'hard feed'.
Goats have apparently been put into paddocks with no roughage.
I was wondering if your organisation had received any complaints along these lines and if you had any concerns?
Thanks for your time.
Tom Hunt.

Tom Hunt
Reporter
The Dominion Post
www.dompost.co.nz

Checking the date of the journalist's email, he sent it in November of 2011, well after the "early 2011" upgrades the Mr. Jackson and the AHA claimed they made.

The nightmare just won't end for 'Luck' (HBO)

No wonder HBO turned down The Corrections...they probably can't afford it! Yesterday, the news broke that Luck, the David Milch/Michael Mann show that was put out to pasture after suffering from low ratings and terrible P.R. due to multiple horse deaths, cost parent company Time Warner $35 million to cancel.

But it doesn't end there...the sinkhole of a show could continue to balloon in costs despite being off the air, thanks to a new filing by PETA to the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office for an independent investigation of animal abuse.

Thanks to new evidence provided by a whistleblower who provided some explicit documents, PETA has a host of new complaints against the show. Their website lists the allegations against the program:

• To save money, horses were underfed. One horse was an alarming 300 pounds underweight. Trainer Matt Chew proposed to cover the protruding ribs of another horse with a blanket during filming.
• Horses who were sick were still used in filming.
• Some sick horses disappeared from the set without explanation, and the trainer was warned that he could be charged with neglect.
• Improperly trained, unprepared horses were used in racing sequences, endangering the horses and jockeys.
• Horses were regularly drugged, including being tranquilized in order to keep them docile.
• The trainer attempted to deceive humane officers by providing false names for horses, apparently to keep the humane officers from finding out that the horses were unfit for running the "races" required for filming.

PETA is also claiming that the American Humane Association did not do its duty with the 50 horses they were in charge of during the filming: that AHA-hired officers complained of the animals' treatment and called for trainer Matt Chew to be fired...a fact which was allegedly ignored by the AHA. They are asking the D.A. to investigate these charges, as well as the death of a fourth horse that may have died during hiatus.

In a Washington Post item about the filing, PETA claimed it "does not have any evidence to suggest that AHA shared its concerns about any potentially illegal behavior with [the DA’s] office or other law enforcement.”