“It’s deprivation and constant confinement,” said Debbie Metzler, director of captive animal welfare for PETA, in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We urge movies and studios and networks to reconsider using commercial suppliers like this.”
PETA filed a Feb. 21 complaint against AFA with the U.S. Department of Agriculture alleging violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service “takes all animal welfare related complaints very seriously. Per our standard process, we are reviewing the concern(s),” a Department of Agriculture spokesman said in an email. A December, 2022 inspection report of AFA by the agency revealed some minor issues that AFA quickly fixed.
AFA, which is a branch of a Hollywood-based company Birds & Animals Unlimited, did not respond to a query from the AJC but did release a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, which broke the story. PETA’s work, AFA said, is part of “an ongoing effort to discredit animal professionals who work in TV and film,” adding, “we welcome any licensed animal welfare organization to visit our facility at any time.” It said it has requested the Georgia Department of Agriculture and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to inspect them at will.
AFA also denied PETA accusations that it failed to provide dogs proper bedding or heated housing and denied pigs adequate medical treatment who had overgrown hooves. AFA said its employees saw the PETA operative “withholding the prescribed medication” from the pigs.
PETA said its spy did not deny medicine while working at AFA for 17 days this past December and January.
He also did not scrutinize the popular “Will Trent” dog Belle, who is called Betty on the show.
A spokesperson for “Will Trent” didn’t respond to an AJC query about the accusations and its use of AFA.
AFA, which has a 68-acre ranch, on its website said “most of the animals that we use come from rescues. … Atlanta…
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