In an industry known for its share of prima donnas and troubled actors, animals, even bugs, can be easier to work with than many humans. Naturally, there are people behind these talents, guiding their careers and providing directors with well-behaved creatures of all sorts for film, television and commercial projects.

One of the largest sources of animal performers in Canada is Creative Animal Talent, located in Mission, BC. Headed by Mark Dumas, in the business for about 30 years, CAT is headquartered on a 10-acre ranch, home to approximately 30 dogs, 20 cats, three bears, three mountain lions, nine wolves, raccoons, birds and more.

With seven other trainers on staff, Dumas handles the bears. He has trained his 1,500-pound Kodiak grizzly, black bear and polar bear to perform.

‘It’s like second nature to me,’ Dumas says of working with the large and, to some, intimidating animals. ‘You start by building a bond with the animal and you reinforce the behaviors you wish with some sort of positive, and, for a bear, that’s food.’

His grizzly has been seen in commercials for Nissan and Molson, while the polar bear has appeared in the features Out Cold and Mystery Alaska. He has also supplied raccoons for Saving Silverman; cows, dogs and pigeons for Say It Isn’t So; cats and dogs for The 6th Day; a deer for Simon Birch; and plenty of dogs for Best in Show.

Dumas says one of the most interesting times in his career was the 79 days he spent in China training panda bear cubs for The Great Panda Adventure from director Chris Cain. He says the pandas’ keepers needed a few lessons in proper bear training.

‘[The pandas’ keepers] were good at taking care of them, but they were young bears with no training at all,’ he says. ‘You have to have a hunger drive on an animal if you want to teach them certain things, but I couldn’t get a hunger drive with these animals because [the keepers] would wake them up in the middle of the night to feed them.’

Jim Lovisek of the Toronto Nature Center specializes in wrangling reptiles, amphibians and insects – everything from snakes, lizards, turtles, crocodiles and frogs to spiders, centipedes, bees, scorpions and insects of all kinds.

He recently wrapped work on a commercial for Cheer detergent, where he managed to get 1,000 bees to swarm an actor (whose day job is a beekeeper). He provided the assorted critters for the Telus/ Clearnet campaign, as well as the ill-fated fly featured in a new Cineplex theatre ad. He also had to find a very unsavory group of stars for a recent horror flick.

‘I did leeches on Dracula 2000,’ he says. ‘The leech that I ended up using was the European medicinal leech, which is actually being used in large numbers right now in hospitals. There is only one place in North America that raises them – New York City. We had to fly them to Toronto and they needed a lot of documentation.’

James Cowan says he has had similar experiences with wildlife red tape. As head of the Canadian Raptor Conservancy, specializing in birds of prey, Cowan only provides animals for Canadian-shot productions.

‘If a special situation did come up, we’d be able to travel to the States, but it takes a lot of paperwork,’ he says. ‘Birds of prey are protected by international law, so sometimes it takes months of paperwork.’

The Canadian Raptor Conservancy, located near Simcoe, ON, provides sanctuary and film opportunities for more than 230 different birds of 40 different species. Cowan and three other trainers supply local producers with bald eagles, golden eagles, turkey vultures, owls, falcons and hawks.

Having worked with various film companies for a decade, he has supplied birds for The Education of Little Tree, K19: The Widowmaker and the recent Disney film Houseguest, which features an owl named Toba. He says the Conservancy also has an ongoing relationship with the Kratt brothers, creators of TV series Kratts’ Creatures and Zoboomafoo.

CAT’s Dumas says some filmmakers are hesitant to include animals in their scripts.

‘There has been more than one instance in our lives where they figured it wasn’t worth the money to have the animal, so you lose jobs because the animals get written out,’ says Dumas. ‘You’ll get producers who have hired someone’s pet to do something before and then they have a bad taste in their mouths about putting an animal in film.’

He adds, however, that the film folk are usually won over by how mannerly his animals are.

‘We’re usually very quick and easy to work with,’ he says. ‘For the most part, our animals will do it in one or two takes.’

Lovisek says it is important for the wrangler, who should always be an expert on the animals they work with, to lend their knowledge to whatever project they are working on. He is now a script consultant as well as bug wrangler on the new TVOntario series The Adventures of Bug Boy (see Ontario Scene, p. 14). He knows this gig will be difficult, but he says he’s up for it.

‘You really have to be inventive and be ready to improvise and come up with ways to get the creature to stand on its head and smile,’ says Lovisek. ‘That’s the part of the business that is interesting and fun. I love a challenge, and you certainly get it in this industry.’ *