The upcoming release of Liam Neeson’s new film “The Grey” has many wolf conservationists, animal rights groups and thousands of concerned citizens like myself quite concerned about this movie and what it might do to wolf recovery efforts and the fate of wolves like OR-7 – the first wild wolf to re-enter California in over 90 years.
Why?
The movie grossly mischaracterizes wolves as blood thirsty, territorial hunters of humans and the plot makes it look as if the humans are being hunted and pursued by killer wolves as they desperately fight for their survival.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Millions of wolves have been murdered by humans in the past while it is questionable if even a single human has been killed by a healthy wild wolf in North America in the time that records of such events have been kept.
Nevertheless, people, particularly those in many western states have an irrational fear of wolves and this paranoia is likely to be exacerbated by the release of The Grey. In fact it isn’t hard to imagine that an anti-wolf zealot, incited by the film will take it upon himself to hunt and perhaps kill OR-7 or other wolves that are only just beginning to reestablish themselves in their former range.
Further, the federal delisting process — which most wolf experts believe is taking place prematurely — is likely to be accelerated by the kind of propaganda created by this movie. It is also possible that this film will increase anti-wolf sentiment across the country and this may result in an increased demand for permits to hunt the few wolves that have begun to re-colonize the lower 48 as well as those that thrive in Alaska.
Beyond this, it has come to the attention of the media that in an effort to “get the cast into the proper survival mindset” director Joe Carnahan (@carnojoe on twitter) procured a wolf carcass ( which he had his cast consume in preparation for the film – an apparent attempt at method acting.
Many organizations have expressed their outrage at the movie itself and the actions of its cast and crew and I join them in denouncing this grotesque distortion of one of natures most intelligent and important apex predators, as well as for their decision to consume such an inappropriate meal for no legitimate reason.
PETA has already written about this issue, so has Ecorazzi.com and numerous other sites that are universally appalled by this film and the actions of its director and cast. I hope you’ll help spread the word and support me and others like me in an effort to show Hollywood that they have a greater responsibility to the people, our planet and all living things.
I hope that everyone that reads this will help me and others like me to promote a boycott of this movie. Already over 5500 concerned citizens have expressed their opinion on this issue by signing the petition I helped start at Care2.com.
Please express your distaste for this movie and the actions of its cast and crew and encourage anyone that cares about animals, truth and the environment to vote with their dollars and spend them on other less damaging forms of entertainment.
To keep updated on this issue, please follow me on Twitter: @owstarr. You can also let the film’s director know how you feel about his movie and meal choices by contacting him through twitter: @carnojoe, via Liam Neeson’s hashtag : #LiamNeeson or directly to the film’s PR: @TheGreyMovie
Thanks for reading this and taking action to help preserve and protect the wolf.
Boycott “The Grey” For Its Harmful Depictions of Wolves!
www.thepetitionsite.com
Boycott “The Grey” For Its Harmful Depictions of Wolves! signatures: deadline: ongoing signature goal: 10,000 Target: Open Road Films Sponsored by: Bryan F. Director Joe Carnahan’s new movie “The G…
You are by far overreacting
Really? After Jaws, 36 million sharks were slaughtered. People seem to be willing to take any and all opportunities to persecute and kill what they fear and wolves have received the worst treatment by man of just about any creature aside from our fellow man.
We have killed wolves with cyanide, strychnine, explosive devices, traps, snares, pit-traps, poisoned bait and even biological weapons (wolves have been trapped, infected with mange and then released in a successful effort to infect other wolves with mange). In fact, the only animals that humans have treated worse than wolves are other humans!
We’ve killed hundreds and hundreds of thousands of an animal that was here before we were. We’ve decimated the species upon which they feed in many places (anyone ever seen wild bison outside of Yellowstone?) We give away BLM lands to ranchers for ridiculously little per head per month – so little in fact that they have almost no incentive to do more than minimal management of their animals. They are further incentivized to quite literally “cry wolf” because in many states the same ranchers that have done the least possible effort to avoid wolf predation on cattle are compensated for losses that may have been caused by wolves.
We have quite literally set the wolf up to fail. We encroach upon their habitat, replace their natural prey with a stupid, slow moving substitute, we give ranchers every reason NOT to take reasonable steps to protect their livestock and then we complain when a very few wolves take advantage of an opportunity we hand them on a silver platter. In fact what’s really surprising is not that wolves take cattle, but that so few wolves take cattle given the fact that we’ve made it almost absurdly easy for them to do so.
Beyond this the fact that the cast and crew consumed wolf-meat? Are you kidding me? This is beyond revolting. Wolves are a threatened species. I have spent over 30 years studying, researching and raising wolves. The very idea that they would be slaughtered for the purpose of being a prop in a film or a vulgar and totally bastardized attempt at method acting makes me physically ill.
To top it off, I’ve heard the imbecile director, Joe Carnahan refer to himself as “an animal person” this is almost as laughable as if Hannibal Lechter called himself a “people person”. The cast, crew and anyone that in any way supports their actions is clearly lacking in an appreciation for nature, life, and our planet. I only wish more people would react as viscerally as I have and take action to both blacklist everyone involved with this film and make an example of them and way their behavior is simply unacceptable in this time.