film techniques - How do they prevent animal cruelty in movies?

As for the U.S., producers can choose to make their films in compliance with the American Humane Association Film and TV Unit. They are the only group officially sanctioned to do this and it is they who provide the "No animals were harmed . . ." message during credit sequences.

Note that bringing in the AHA to monitor the production of a film is voluntary. As can been seen from the reviews section of the site, most productions are in fact monitored and get the "Outstanding" rating. Those which are not monitored are mostly (although not necessarily all--I only looked at a few) filmed internationally (and thus outside AHA jurisdiction) or have benign/no animal involvement.

The AHA have guideline (2.4 MB .pdf download here) that describes in detail the precautions taken to ensure animal wellbeing. Very briefly, it includes such things as:

• Always having a veterinarian on hand.


• Making sure the set, crew, costume, and makeup are all safe for the animal.


• The animal must be properly trained and conditioned for special effects (e.g. gunfire and explosions) as well as stunt work.


• Specific considerations for each of dogs, cats, birds, fish, horses, etc.

The guidelines are very detailed but may be more about what you cannot do rather than what "tricks" directors use to shoot a scene without hurting the animals involved. However I suspect the latter is achieved through training, makeup/props (in the vein of blood squibs for when humans are "shot"), and (increasingly) CGI effects. Their review of Battleship explicitly mentions a CGI shark.

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