Photo: Lewis JacobsLet me get the blunt part out of the way first. You are an actor; you have won a Golden Globe and an Oscar. You should not need a live tiger in front of you to show fear in your new movie. Perform, Matthew. Act.[teaserbreak]
In his new film, Gold, McConaughey appears in a scene with a live tiger, walks through a gate, stands in front of him, and pats the animal on his head. McConaughey looks afraid. He’s certainly sweating.
In 2016, it’s shocking that live animals, including dangerous wild animals such as tigers, are still used in films. We have access to computer-generated imagery. We don’t need to use a tiger at all.
In 2016, it’s beyond belief that we continue to exploit exotic animals. There are more tigers in captivity in private hands in the U.S. than in all of the wild; there are more tigers in Chinese tiger farms, being bred and confined for the domestic commercial trade in tiger parts, than in all of the wild. Tigers are poached in places like India for their skins, bones, teeth, claws, and internal organs. Tigers are confined to be killed for their parts in China, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Tigers are kept in unnatural conditions in zoos and forced to leap through rings of fire in circuses. Tigers are caged and paraded around as university mascots, and they are kept as “pets” in people’s homes and backyards across the country.
The time to exploit tigers for greed and entertainment has passed.
Actors like Matthew McConaughey have an amazing platform to selflessly stop using wild animals in performances and make a statement that we don’t need to subject them to lives of cruel confinement—for 20 seconds of theatrics. With this platform and this message will come change. Without it, how many people will think it’s okay to pet a tiger? How many of them will acquire one? How many of them will be attacked by one?
The new year is upon us; let’s resolve to leave tigers in the wild, where they belong.
Keep wildlife in the wild,
Adam