From Joe King:
Nature scenes filmed in ‘controlled conditions’, BBC admits after cameraman says small animal footage was ‘faked’
by Liam O’Brien
Independent.co.uk
October 8, 2013
Doug Allen said the infamous Frozen Planet polar bear incident wasn’t the only specially-arranged shot on a BBC wildlife show
Scenes involving small mammals on the BBC’s flagship nature programmes were faked, according to a cameraman who worked on Blue Planet, Planet Earth and Frozen Planet.
Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, Doug Allen claimed that filming animals “smaller than a baby rabbit” necessitates a specially set stage.
Following the claim, The BBC said animals were sometimes filmed in “controlled conditions” to accommodate the careful consideration of “animal welfare, health and safety, practical factors and the biological accuracy of the story”.
The corporation said such scenes were “recreated to be as close to the natural setting as possible”.
The biggest controversy surrounding faked footage came in 2011, when it emerged that Frozen Planet’s scenes of a polar bear and her newborn cubs were actually filmed in a zoo.
Sir David Attenborough defended the scenes at the time, saying that flagging up the fact that some parts of the programme were filmed in a controlled environment would “ruin” the atmosphere. Continue reading “Fake Nature Footage”