Jeff Robinov Movie Under Investigation After 5 Dead Bison Were Used During Filming

Alberta: On April 27, five bison carcasses were arranged on the set of the Ice Age film The Solutrean in Alberta, Canada, for a scene that takes place after a hunting expedition. They had been slaughtered and partially skinned the previous day to be used in the scene by a butcher at the direction of the film’s animal wrangler, John Scott, on his ranch property an hour and a half away.

But the American Humane Association (AHA) prohibits the use of animals killed for the purpose of film production. And now the AHA, which was monitoring The Solutrean, is investigating the incident.

“We were alerted to allegations that, if true, are a clear violation of our standards,” says AHA rep Mark Stubis.

The Solutrean, directed by Albert Hughes and starring Kodi Smit-McPhee, is the first film from the Sony-partnered Studio 8, headed by former Warner Bros. chief Jeff Robinov.

Studio 8 says it acted in good faith by inviting the AHA on set and “proactively contracted with a reputable meat-processing company to purchase bison carcasses that had previously been harvested.” Studio 8 also says an internal review is underway, promising that “if we find that any deviation did indeed occur, we will consider all potential remedies, including rescuing five other bison who would have otherwise been slaughtered, by purchasing them for adoption by an animal sanctuary, along with any other actions involving other responsible parties that we feel are appropriate.”

In addition, invoices, emails and a livestock travel manifest provided by Studio 8 appear to show butcher Longview Beef Jerky sold the bison to the production as dead carcasses (though a field on the manifest to indicate the bison’s location beforehand was blank).

Scott, a wrangler and owner of a century-old working ranch (which includes bison), boasts a long film CV, from Legends of the Fall and Unforgiven to The Revenant. But his name has been linked to trouble before. During production of The 13th Warrior, a 1999 Disney film on which he worked, a horse had to be destroyed after a wire sliced through its tendons and an artery. Scott also faced accusations he sold horses he’d used on the Canadian TV series Heartland — on which he was the head wrangler between 2008 and 2011 — at auctions attended by buyers for Bouvry Exports, the largest horse slaughterhouse in North America. It was probed by the Royal Canadian Police in 2010 for inhumane killing. Regarding the incident, he said, “I take my horses to horse sales, and I can't help where they go from there.”