Hollywood’s animal trainer Michael Hackenberger, who trained the tiger in Oscar-winning film Life of Pi and the animals in James Franco’s comedy, The Interview, has been caught on tape brutally beating a tiger for training. In the video, Hackenberger even admits that he enjoys the whipping, reports aceshowbiz.com.
“I like hitting him in the face. And the paws - which get the paws off. And... the beauty of the paws being on the rock, when you hit him, it’s like a vice. It stings more,” said Hackenberger, the owner of Bowmanville Zoological Park in Bowmanville, Ontario.
In the clip, one trainer holds the tiger on a leash as it rolls over onto its back as the lashes come down, a move which, according to PETA, is a response of fear in big cats.
{{/usCountry}}In the clip, one trainer holds the tiger on a leash as it rolls over onto its back as the lashes come down, a move which, according to PETA, is a response of fear in big cats.
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“But, here’s the problem at the end of the day. If ... we’d been running a videotape the whole time you were here, and you did a 45-second montage of the times I struck this animal, PETA (animal rights organisation People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) would burn this place to the ground,” he added.