PETA Awards The Walking Dead Innovation In Television Award For Tiger
The biggest, loudest, and most exciting part of The Walking Dead's season 7 trailer was the moment [...]
The biggest, loudest, and most exciting part of The Walking Dead's season 7 trailer was the moment when Ezekiel's tiger roared on the screen, confirming that the AMC series would indeed adapt Shiva the tiger from comics to television.
The tiger, which will debut a few episodes into the show's seventh season in a Greg Nicotero-directed hour, is not at all real and alive but instead a combinatio nof animatronics and computer graphics. "There's no real tiger at all, it's all magic," series creator Robert Kirkman tells fans.
The choice to use modern technology to create their own tiger rather than chaining and training a tiger on set has earned The Walking Dead an Innovation in Television Award from PETA.
"By choosing the excitement of cutting-edge technology instead of captive animals, The Walking Dead has won the respect of everyone who objects to condemning wild animals to live chained and in cages as well as making them perform under the threat of a whip," says PETA Senior Vice President Lisa Lange. "PETA will press all television networks to follow AMC's compassionate lead."
The debut of Shiva comes on the heels of CBS' Zoo series choosing to use wild animals on their sets. Last year, Zoo used various animals during production, prompting 60,000 people to write to the network and demand they stop.
The Walking Dead will return for its seventh season October 23 at 9 PM ET on AMC. For complete coverage, insider info, and more all season long, be sure to follow me on Twitter @BrandonDavisBD and check out The Walking Dead on ComicBook.com on Facebook.
