Canada: Michael Hackenberger Charged With Animal Cruelty After Undercover Video Surfaced of Him Brutally Whipping Cowering Tiger

CANADA -- Life Of Pi tiger trainer abuser Michael Hackenberger has resigned after being charged with five counts of animal cruelty by the Ontario SPCA.

The allegations first arose in December of 2015 after PETA posted an undercover video online showing the Bowmanville Zoo owner beating a young tiger 19 times.

Hackenberger supplied the tiger for the hit 2012 film The Life of Pi and also trained animals for James Franco's The Interview. The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has legal authority in animal welfare cases and filed the charges after spending "significant time reviewing the facility and interviewing all involved.”

Hackenberger was found to have struck the male Siberian tiger, Uno, in the face and elsewhere on the body with a whip. This incident caused the animal distress as he pushed his thumb into the animal's eye.

  

 

Note: This video is nauseating. I only got 20 seconds into the 1-1/2 minute video and I had to stop it. It's horrible. This poor tiger rolls over onto its belly in a submissive position and you just hear that whip cracking over and over as it's slashing onto the tiger.

Hackenberger then comments that if someone had videotaped what he'd just done, "PETA would burn this place to the ground". 

The abuse of this beautiful tiger is disgusting. The same should be done to Hackenberger.

The Life of Pi film was first in the spotlight after its release as questions arose over the treatment of the animal used to play Richard Parker, the Bengal tiger stranded on a life raft with the main character in the film, Pi Patel.

At the time of its release, The Hollywood Reporter investigated the film and was shown emails in which an American Humane Association claimed that the tiger nearly drowned during the shooting of scenes within a giant water tank. 

Director Ang Lee was said to consider these incidents “accidents”.

(World Animal News - April 15, 2016)