‘The Walking Dead’ is Honored By PETA Award, No Animal Cruelty Here!!

Last Friday at San Diego International Comic-Con, fans had the first view of The Walking Dead Season 7 trailer.  In the trailer you catch glimpses of King Ezekiel and his pet tiger, Shiva, but before fans had the chance to rant or freak out over Shiva the tiger, series creator Robert Kirkman was quick to point out that “There is no real tiger, it’s all magic!” PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) even thanked the AMC Walking Dead series for its use of CGI and Animatronics instead of a real tiger. For a show that is too violent, at least towards humans, it sure shows a lot of compassion for animals!

By choosing to use this cutting-edge technology, instead of using real-life animals, The Walking Dead, has been given a lot of respect by everyone who object to cruelty to animals, even earning TWD an Innovation in Television Award from PETA.  Imagine that, winning an award for a season that hasn’t even aired yet! This seems to be a crucial time for such an exciting move, especially since CBS has recently come under fire for their series ‘ZOO’, which is using several wild animals… caged or chained animals are unfairly forced to perform far too often for human entertainment!!

More than 60,000 people against the cruelty of animals have written to CBS and have demanded that ‘ZOO’ stop using wild animals. Between last season and this season, ‘ZOO’ has used tigers (other big cats), polar bears, wolves, monkeys, among many other wild animals. They even dropped plans to use trainer Michael Hackenberger, but only after PETA alerted the producers that he had been caught on camera whipping a tiger mercilessly and has been charged with five counts of animal cruelty!

PETA was so impressed with The Walking Dead’s decision that they are now “pressing all television networks to follow AMC’s compassionate lead”.  Who would have thought that ‘The Walking Dead’ would be the ideal example and poster child for being against animal cruelty?  They never cease to amaze us, and we cannot wait to see more of Shiva and King Ezekiel when Season 7 premieres on October 23^rd on AMC!

 For more information, please visit PETA’s website AnimalsInFilmAndTV.com

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