The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) group is again causing an uproar over reports of animal abuse in an upcoming Netflix series. A recent announcement from PETA reports that a whistleblower informed them a pig had been shot and killed for Nicolas Winding Refn‘s upcoming Danish Netflix series. Refn is best known for directing the Oscar-nominated film Drive in 2011, which stars Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, and Bryan Cranston.
In response, PETA wrote a letter to Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings asking for the scene in question be cut from the series and states that killing and exploiting the death of a sentient being is “unacceptable and may be illegal”.
“No animal should suffer or die for human entertainment, and PETA is calling on Netflix to leave on the cutting room floor any footage that might glorify this pig’s needless, senseless slaughter.”
Excerpt from PETA’s letter to Netflix
Danish police are currently investigating the incident, and it has been confirmed that Copenhagen Zoo did receive a dead pig from the project. The series may be in some legal trouble for breaching Danish Animal Welfare Law which states “Animals shall not be trained or used in shows, circus performances, film shootings, or the like if the animal thereby suffers significant discomfort.”
This isn’t the first time PETA has called for scenes to be cut, as they had recently called for the upcoming movie Jackass Forever to cut scenes where animals were abused and exploited for the sake of entertainment.
