Ontario: A disturbing video has emerged showing a siberian tiger been beaten mercilessly.
Michael Hackenberger,who has supplied animals for a number of Hollywood projects including the oscar winning 'Life of Pi', could be seen swearing and whipping the young tiger repeatedly during the training session. He is the owner of Bowmanville Zoological Park in Canada's Ontario province.
The video shows the tiger cowering in the face of the beating and rolling onto its back, a fear response in big cats.
Seemingly aware of his actions, Hackenberger later tells the person recording him: 'If … we'd been running a videotape … of the times I struck this animal … PETA would burn this place to the ground.'
As it turns out, the individual Hackenberger was speaking to did give the tape to PETA.
PETA writes in a press release that the video shows Hackenberger 'savagely beating a young Siberian tiger up to 20 times on the face and body with a whip.'
The Siberian tiger captured in the video is named Uno.
Hackenberger is later interviewed - though it is not clear if he knows he is being filmed - and says: 'I like hitting [the tiger] in the face. And the paws … being on the rock, when you hit him, it's like a vice.
He has also trained the animals used in last year's James Franco film The Interview.
Hackenberger also released a video in his defense dismissing the allegations of PETA. "The images captured are misrepresented by PETA, and I would go so far as to say they're lyin," he says in the video.
