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'Life of Pi' animal trainer caught on video whipping tiger

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IANS Los Angeles
Last Updated : Dec 24 2015 | 1:42 PM IST

Hollywood's animal trainer Michael Hackenberger, who trained the tiger in Oscar-winning film "Life of Pi" and the animals in James Franco's comedy "The Interview", has been caught on tape brutally beating a tiger for training.

In the video, Hackenberger even admits that he enjoys the whipping, reports aceshowbiz.com.

"I like hitting him in the face. And the paws - which get the paws off. And... The beauty of the paws being on the rock, when you hit him, it's like a vice. It stings more," said Hackenberger, the owner of Bowmanville Zoological Park in Bowmanville, Ontario.

"But, here's the problem at the end of the day. If ... we'd been running a videotape the whole time you were here, and you did a 45-second... montage of the times I struck this animal, PETA (animal rights organisation People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) would burn this place to the ground," he added.

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First Published: Dec 24 2015 | 1:26 PM IST

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