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But many were hanged during the playing of this game.

"NO DOGS WERE HARMED DURING THE FILMING OF THIS EPISODE. THE CAT GOT SICK AND SOMEBODY SHOT A DUCK BUT THAT'S ABOUT IT."

"No animals were harmed" is a standard message displayed at the end of movies, and in Hollywood movies is awarded (and trademarked) by the American Humane Association. It means exactly what it says.

In the early days of Hollywood, safety procedures were pretty lax, even concerning actors. It would be a bit of a bore to find someone who looked enough like your leading lady at short notice. But unless you need your Wild West hero to do some show jumping, there are a dozen bargain-bin nags which you could afford to risk damaging with trip-wires. It was very common for animals to get injured, and no great loss to anyone if they did. Well-trained animals were an exception, incidentally, often getting better treatment than the human actors.

In particular, according to The Other Wiki, a scene in the 1939 film Jesse James, wherein a blindfolded horse was ridden off a cliff to its death, is the direct cause of the founding of the American Humane Association's film division (the trademark holder on the phrase "no animals were harmed"), and the "No animals were harmed" language dates directly to the controversy over that movie.

After a while, sensitivities changed, safety improved and it became worth letting people know that the animals you used did not end up getting shot and used to make glue, so the "No animals were harmed" disclaimer is now seen in virtually all major works that use animals. More recently, with the advent of computer-generated effects, it's become possible to show animals coming to harm without having to involve any actual animals at all. In such films, "No Animals Were Harmed" is usually accompanied by a phrase to the effect of "Scenes showing harm to animals were simulated."

Parodies of the message have become a common Credits Gag, often citing some other group who were not harmed (commonly whatever fictional creatures are featured in the movie), or making specific exceptions to the rule. It's also common to state that while the animals may not have been killed, they did receive some minor injuries, or to stress that while no animals were killed or injured, humans on the other hand... It may also be used as a form of Captain Obvious in cartoons or puppet shows where, obviously, no real animals were involved in the making at all.

Note that the phrase refers to animals specifically in the colloquial "non-human mammals" sense. "No human beings were harmed in the making of this film" is a phrase you will never see outside of this sentence.note  Human actors (or crew for that matter) applied of their own free will, they should at least in theory know what they were getting into, and they have their own organizations (such as OSHA and the Screen Actors Guild) to watchdog their safety concerns.

Compare Our Lawyers Advised This Trope and No OSHA Compliance. No Celebrities Were Harmed and No Communities Were Harmed derive their names from this trope but are not otherwise directly related.


Examples:

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    Advertising 
  • The Vat19 ad for the Frogger Tabletop LCD Game disclaims that no men in frog suits were harmed in the making of the ad.
  • Used in an announcer spiel for an old "We'll be back" Ad Bumper for Tom and Jerry on Cartoon Network.
    Announcer: No animals were harmed in the making of this program, except Tom. Okay, so one animal was harmed. He'll be fine. Tom and Jerry will be right back on Cartoon Network.
  • Appears in the middle of a commercial for "Wallet Wizard" whose premise involves a dog that has tried to swallow a parrot whole.
  • Done seriously in RSPCA ads. One states this right at the beginning as the camera pans over a living room covered in broken glass with the sound of a dog whimpering in the background. Give the ad also features puppies locked in a garden shed and a soggy kitten abandoned in a bin, the warning is warranted.
  • Also taken seriously with this US Childhood Asthma PSA. Most of it consists of shots of a fish out of water, flapping and struggling for breath, while a child compares their asthma attacks to the fish. A disclaimer was added to the website, explaining that a fish handler was on set to care for the fish, and some versions of the PSA have a "no fish were harmed" disclaimer added to the end scene where the fish is placed back into the water, possibly due to viewer complaints.

    Anime & Manga 
  • Samurai Pizza Cats had the disclaimer "No animals were harmed in the marking of this cartoon" in its closing credits.
  • Episode 7 of Excel♡Saga had the disclaimer "No Puchuus were killed or injured in the production of this film. Well, okay, maybe we roughed a few of them up a bit. And we did cook and eat two of them, but that was after we finished filming. Does that count?"

    Comic Strips 
  • The comic strip Liberty Meadows parodied this once. The first two panels were of a character tripping and falling on a banana peel, and nothing else. The third and final panel said "No animals were harmed in the making of this comic strip, with the exception of" followed by an extremely Long List.
  • Parodied in one Mallard Fillmore comic strip, when the TV that Mallard is watching says, "The following heartwarming holiday special contains 100 percent faux snow; no actual snow was harmed in the production of this program."

    Fan Works 

    Films — Animation 
  • Cats Don't Dance: "No animals were harmed in making this film. Although, a few had to be erased and redrawn."
  • Brother Bear ends with Koda announcing that "no fish were harmed in the making of this film." The message is undercut by a bear chasing a salmon crying for help in the background.
  • The credits for The Curse of the Were-Rabbit state at the end "We would like to stress that no animals were harmed in the making of this film" (given everyone in the film was plasticine, no real animals would have been harmed anyway). Right then, one of the rabbits floating around throughout the end credits hits its head on the text and falls squealing off the screen.
  • BIONICLE Mask of Light has one, substituting "animals" for Rahi, written in Matoran letters.
  • Monsters, Inc.: "No monsters were harmed during the making of this film."
  • Flushed Away: "No slugs were a-salted in the making of this movie."
  • Winnie the Pooh (2011): "No stuffed animals were harmed in the making of this film."
  • In The Simpsons Movie, Lisa speaks up, wanting to make sure that no animals were harmed in the making of the film, then breathes a sigh of relief when such a notice comes up.
    • The theatrical short The Longest Daycare has "No butterflies were harmed during the making of this motion picture, although two kids were pretty banged up."
  • The Powerpuff Girls Movie: "No apes, monkeys, or talking dogs were harmed in the making of this film."
  • The Rugrats Movie: "No cartoon characters were harmed in the making of this film."
  • The Flintstones: Stone Age SmackDown!: "No dinosaurs or hopparoos were harmed in the animation of this cartoon."
  • The Magic Pudding ends with the disclaimer "No animated animals were harmed in the making of this film".
  • Leo: "No cartoon animals were harmed in the production of this motion picture, except maybe for a few bugs."

    Films — Live-Action 
  • From The Naked Gun 33 1/3:
    "NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED DURING THE FILMING..."
    HOWEVER, SOME SPECIES DID BECOME EXTINCT DURING PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY:
    SPECIES CAUSE OF DEATH
    Northern Horned Barn Owl (approx. 15) Soundstage Fire
    Striped Red Heinied Tapir (last pair) Grip Truck
    Wooly Fettered Tree Squirrel (approx. 100) Crew Lunch
  • In the Mouth of Madness has this played straight and subverted:
    Animal interaction was monitored by the American Humane Association with on set supervision by the Toronto Humane Society. No animal was harmed in the making of this film.
    Human interaction was monitored by the Inter Planetary Psychiatric Association. The body count was high, the casualties are heavy.
  • The Flintstones movie: "No dinosaurs were harmed in the making of this movie."
  • At the end of the first Guyver Live-action movie: "No zoanoids were harmed during the making of this movie."
  • A parody of this trope occurs in the movie of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: "No dragons were harmed in the making of this movie."
  • Fierce Creatures: "No animals were harmed in the making of this film, only humans."
  • Parodied in the end credits of A Serious Man: "No Jews were harmed in the making of this film."
  • In 24-Hour Party People, Tony Wilson goes out of his way in his narration to the audience to mention that no animals were harmed at the conclusion of a scene involving Shaun and Paul Ryder killing 3,000 pigeons with poisoned breadcrumbs.
    Tony Wilson: ...although there are those who say they're pests, rats with wings.
  • Parodied in the ending credits of all three sequels to Critters: absolutely no critters were harmed in the making of this film.
  • The film version of How To Eat Fried Worms had the disclaimer, "No worms were harmed in the making of this film." Then it cut to the part where a worm placed in a microwave to heat exploded and added, "Not even this one."
  • Spoofed in one trailer for Ninja Assassin: "Only one ninja was harmed in the making of this movie. The rest were killed."
  • According to the end of Four Lions: "One sheep was blown up in the making of this film."
  • Independence Day: "No animals or aliens were harmed in the making of this film."
  • Men in Black: "The animals and aliens used in this film were in no way mistreated and all scenes in which they appeared were under strict supervision with the utmost concern for their handling."
  • Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning: In addition to the standard Humane Society disclaimer, the credits also feature a disclaimer that the Spanish Steps in Rome were not harmed in the making of the film, and that the stunt was a reproduction on a studio set.
  • The Singles Ward has "No animals were harmed during the making of this film... Except that dog... Stupid dog..."
  • When The Adventures of Milo and Otis was released overseas, there were allegations started by some Australian animal rights groups (such as Animal Liberation Queensland and the RSPCA) that the Japanese filmmakers had put the animals in perilous situations with insufficient safeguards and numerous kittens had died. The allegations were ultimately never proven (an attempted investigation by the American Humane Association to investigate the claims led to dead ends, so it is presumable ALQ made the initial claims as a publicity stunt). Since it was a Japanese picture, the American Humane Society never officially approved it, but the Japanese SPCA was present on set, so claims that they were in fact careful are pretty much true, hence the film having the non-standard disclaimer of "The animals used were filmed under strict supervision with the utmost care for their safety and well-being."
  • Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo: "Only one fish was harmed during the making of this film. But he feels better now."
  • The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep: "No Sea Monsters were harmed during the making of this film."
  • State and Main: "Only 2 animals were harmed in the making of this film."
    • Seconds later, the film corrects itself by showing the typical AHA disclaimer.
  • The closing credits The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists state "No dodos were made extinct in the making of this film."
  • EZ Money, a direct-to-DVD kid flick revolving around the 419 Scam has "No animals were harmed in the making of this movie and no scam e-mails were sent although several of the crew reportedly signed up for an online dating service."
  • Speed 2: Cruise Control has "No oceans were harmed during the making of this film" right under the standard animal disclaimer.
  • Rat Race's end credits contains the line: "No Animals were harmed in the making of this film; only actors were harmed during the making of this film."
  • Django Unchained put the "no animals were harmed" disclaimer at the beginning of the closing credits rather than near the end of the closing credits, possibly to avoid any accusations of horses being killed during filming.
    • The disclaimer very specifically states "No Horses were harmed".
  • The credits of Star Trek: Of Gods and Men includes the line "No tribbles were harmed during the making of this motion picture."
  • Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) has "no raccoons or tree creatures were harmed in the making of this film."
  • The 1997 monster movie Hybrid has "no live girls were injured or impregnated during the making of this motion picture".
  • Mr. Popper's Penguins: "No penguins were harmed during the making of this movie. Jim Carrey, on the other hand, was bitten mercilessly. But he had it coming."
  • The documentary "Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie," which includes footage of animals being used in nuclear weapons tests, parodies this with "Some goats, pigs, sheep, and cows were nuked during the production of the original footage used in this film."
  • The credits for The Kid & I notes that while no animals were harmed, star Tom Arnold gained ten pounds during production.
  • In the making-of documentary for Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, Jim Carrey points out that while no animals were harmed during the production, "The humans had the SNOT kicked out of them!"
  • The credits of Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism state that "No animals were harmed during the filming of this motion picture, but some insects were accidentally trodden on."
  • In Roger Ebert's review of Joe's Apartment, he observes,
    "I am informed that 5,000 cockroaches were used in the filming of 'Joe’s Apartment.' That depresses me, but not as much as the news that none of them were harmed during the production."
  • The infamously Troubled Production Roar, starring Tippi Hedren and daughter Melanie Griffith, had a Tag Line showing how dangerous filming around various big cats is: "No animals were harmed in the making of this film. 70 cast and crew members were."
  • Screamers: The Hunting. assures the audience that "No screamers were harmed in the making of this motion picture". Given that a plot point is the inability to tell Screamers from humans, how would they know?
  • The closing credits of both Paddington (2014) and Paddington 2 state that "No bears were harmed in the making of this film" despite the fact that the bears in both are CGI creations.
  • The House With a Clock in Its Walls has "No chairs or topiary griffins were harmed in the making of this motion picture". Sadly, no such reassurance is offered for animated automatons or pumpkins.
  • How to Talk to Girls at Parties ends with the disclaimer that "No aliens were harmed during the making of this movie".
  • Averted with The Neverending Story. Despite Artax being played by a real horse and the infamous Swamp of Sadness scene having Artax sinking to his death, the film doesn't have a "No animals were harmed" disclaimer in the credits at all. Despite internet rumors, Word of God states the horse was fine after they filmed the scene.
  • Zombeavers has "No animals were harmed in the making of this film, although the bear did receive a purple nurple (not our fault, he started it)".
  • A Fairly Odd Christmas ends with Wanda stating that no fairies were harmed in the making of the film, followed by Cosmo declaring that he got a paper cut.
  • Quigley Down Under features the "No animals were harmed" disclaimer on the very first screen of closing credits rather than its more typical spot toward the end. This is presumably for extra reassurance after some very realistic effects of horses falling and rolling, notably one scene of a horse and rider going over a cliff. This even extends to the scene where Quigley and Cora are offered live Witchetty grubs to eat: they actually ate pieces of raw dough.
  • Meet the Feebles ends with "The producers wish to advise that no puppets were killed or maimed during the production of this film".

    Jokes 
  • Two silkworms entered a race. They ended up in a tie. No invertebrates were harmed in the making of this joke.

    Literature 
  • The Acknowledgements at the end of Star Trek: Titan: Synthesis states "No computers were harmed during the making of this production." The novel is about a society of sentient computers.
  • Wry Martinis by Christopher Buckley states (for no apparent reason) that "no animals were harmed in the making of this book."
  • The children's picture book Boo-La-La Witch Spa has a disclaimer that "No cats, bats, gnomes, backlinks, yetis, spiders, scarabs, skunks, snails, dragons, newts, sea monsters, beetles, trolls, warlocks, werewolves, black widows, pegasi, mummies, zombies, unicorns, ghosts, Loch Ness Monsters, or fairies were harmed during the making of this book. THAT WOULD NOT BE COOL."
  • One chapter in Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes is called "Cyrene Punches A Lion (No Actual Lions Were Harmed In The Making Of This Myth)".
  • Vladimir Vasilyev wrote in the preface of one novel that not one Yuri Semetskynote  was harmed during the writing.
  • Captain Underpants: George and Harold's comic about Professor Poopypants comes with one of these.
    "Notice: All animal cruelty was simulated. No actual gerbils were forced to listen to Cher."
  • Hilariously subverted in "My Nature Documentary", by Jack Handey...
    Show monkey wandering around, injured, lost and alone. Make him trip, using fishing line attached to his leg. (Try to get this on first take, because after that monkey will probably try to bite off fishing line.)

    Live-Action TV 
  • The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: One show, Jon Stewart had been making a running joke about the news making him so stressed, he would destroy what was in his hands. Then he held a kitten. The kitten 'turned into' a glass kitten. After the bit was over, he said "The kitten is fine, by the way."
  • Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys ended with mythical creatures in the place: "No Centaurs were harmed".
    • Over the course of the seasons, the messages got increasingly bizarre, including abstract concepts like "Gabrielle's sense of self-worth".
    • "The concept of linear time was harmed in this episode."
    • From an episode introducing yet another Identical Stranger: "Despite the appearance of another Xena lookalike, the gene pool was not harmed in the making of this episode".
  • In The Making Of Walking with Dinosaurs: "No dinosaurs were harmed in the making of this programme".
  • Bill Nye once claimed "no science guys were harmed in the course of an episode".
  • In one Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode, one of the characters riffs, "None of the animals harmed, were harmed during the making of this film".
  • At the end of the Penn & Teller: Bullshit! episode on PETA, Penn declares "No animals were harmed in the making of this episode"... then thinks for a moment and lists off the various animal products used during production. Earlier, he also says that they wanted to kill, clean, cook and eat a chicken on the show, but the Humane Association wouldn't allow it.
    • To make things even more bizarre, Penn points out that while they themselves cannot kill, clean, cook, and eat a chicken on the show, they are allowed to show footage of other people doing so (And end up showing Stock Footage from a chicken farm-themed documentary). Penn is quick to point out the logicial flaws in this.
  • Common on MythBusters episodes that involve animals.
    • In one early episode, they teased that they would be testing Microwave the Dog later on. When the time came, they stopped the joke and said no, they wouldn't be putting animals at risk on the show.
    • Averted when they investigated whether cockroaches would survive a nuclear war — they state at least twice that the insects used were bred for lab work and would have been killed anyway, but they did kill most of their test subjects in that one.
    • Played with in the "Demolition Derby Special". The episode ends with an announcement by the narrator that "Automobiles were hurt in the making of this program", over "In Memoriam" clips of each car getting smashed up.
    • In a viral video special, the team was trying to induce fainting goats to faint. After the segment which featured dozens of goats going stiff and falling over the narrator assures us that no goats were harmed "though several felt they were made to look stupid".
    • The announcer also often notes that that Buster, the dummy that serves as a human analogue in many experiments, has a family and humorously warns them to look away at moments of carnage.
    • Notably, while the cast avoid killing animals during production, they have no problem with ordering large numbers of previously killed ones from butchers and other livestock supplies. They've even used actual human bones on a few occasions.
      • In early episodes, the narrator would point out that the dead pigs used to test myths were ones that had died of natural causes.
    • In lectures, Adam relates the story of the only segment they have ever been banned from showing. They were trying to test the idea that a sugary cereal has less nutrition in it than the box it is packaged in. They obtained 9 lab mice and put them on special diets with 3 mice per cage. Cage 1 was fed regular, Cage 2 was fed the cereal, and Cage 3 was fed the cardboard. After a week of monitoring, the crew left for the weekend and went home, leaving the mice unattended. Upon returning Monday morning, they found (to their horror), a fat and happy Mouse in Cage 3...and two picked clean skeletons. Discovery freaked out and refused to air any part of the segment. Adam had a rough cut of footage and showed the clip during a college lecture, until he received a 'cease and desist' order from Discovery. They were terrified PETA was going to catch wind.
    • In the Duct Tape Island episode, Adam uses a duct tape net inspired by Return of the Jedi to catch a wild chicken. However, immediately afterwards we get a disclaimer from Adam, saying that while they did catch a real live chicken, the net was just for proof of concept and they didn't actually eat the chicken; it was released and the guys were given store-bought chicken.
  • An episode of My Name Is Earl had copious turtle-throwing, after Joy lost Darnell's pet, Mr. Turtle. Before the end credits, a turtle told the "crackpot" viewers that no animals were harmed.
  • A programme about mishaps happening to animals would have a shot of a goat/sheep at the end and have the presenter say "No animals were harmed in the making of this programme". The animal then explodes. "Except for this one," adds the presenter.
  • Parodied in an episode of Time Warp. "Several stuffed animals were harmed in the making of this episode. And to be honest, they had it coming."
  • On Ross Noble's appearance on Live at the Apollo he put an imaginary turtle in a drawer but left it open a gap so it wouldn't die. He tried to talk about something else but commented that the audience was still looking at the turtle. He then said that no imaginary animals were harmed in the making of his show... except the imaginary panda that he then procided to beat up, while discuss what is so good about beating up a panda.
  • Just Shoot Me!:
    • Parodied. The cast helps Finch with a film for film class. They burn a birdhouse that's a substitute for a real house while the bird was still inside.
      Maya: "Remember that thing in movies where they say "No animals were harmed in the making of this film? Well..."
    • The episode "Slow Donnie" had a subplot concerning some birds in Nina's office. At the end there's a disclaimer from Dennis that "No birds were harmed in the making of this episode." Then a tennis ball from offscreen hits one of the cages, followed by Dennis saying "Oops!"
  • Parodied in Garth Marenghis Darkplace:
    Garth Marenghi: I do not believe that any form of life, be it human, animal, or plant, should be hurt in the making of a television programme. So I personally feel really bad about that cat we killed.
  • Also parodied in Richard Hammond's Blast Lab, where people who are part of experiments are referred to as 'Lab Rats': Richard Hammond says "No Lab Rats were harmed..." towards the end of the credits, and then goes on to say an exception, (for example) "...But one tripped and fell".
  • Not the Nine O'Clock News had a fake apology for a scene where a lorry runs over a hedgehog. "the hedgehog used was a stuffed hedgehog and we feel we exhibited less cruelty to hedgehogs per se than whoever it is that goes around stuffing them".
  • On The Young Ones, after Alexi Sayle is shown drinking the contents of a goldfish bowl, a short clip of the inside of his stomach is shown:
    Puppet goldfish: Don't worry, goldfish-lovers everywhere. I am, in fact, a stunt goldfish. In fact, by the time this programme airs, I will be doing the new James Bond film. So there's no need to write in.
    Puppet hunk of food: They never read the letters anyway.
  • In a memorable Las Vegas episode: "No Jean Claude Van Dammes were actually injured or killed during the filming of this episode."
  • In one episode of 2point4 Children, Ben tries to put the kettle on but accidentally turns on the blender and liquidizes David's goldfish, which had been put in there when the goldfish bowl got broken. In The Stinger to the episode, in order to demonstrate that the goldfish wasn't harmed, they show how the scene was "really" filmed. Just before Ben turns on the blender, a stage hand pours the fish into a bowl and replaces it with an artificial one. They then try to shoot the scene, but the bowl is in shot. The director asks Ben to hide it - Ben looks around and puts the bowl in the microwave. They start filming - and Ben accidentally turns on the microwave instead of the blender.
  • A short-lived Discovery Channel show from 2004 called Animal Face Off was based around if two species dueled it out to the death, which would win. As they couldn't actually make animals fighting to the death, they used CGI with the occasional cut to stock footage.
  • In one Time Team episode, they're excavating the grounds of one of London's law societies, but have to get permission from the gardener to carefully lift a geranium bed. At the end of the episode, Tony says "And if any lawyers are watching, no geraniums were harmed in the making of this episode".
  • Parodied by this promotional video for Top Gear, which ends with the disclaimer "No real David Beckhams were harmed, or actually used in this video".
  • The road safety documentary Crash Test Dummies: A Smashing History ends with the message "Many crash test dummies were harmed during the making of this programme."
  • Used as a brick joke at the end of the first episode of series 27 of Never Mind the Buzzcocks. At the start they had a guy in a circus outfit holding a rabbit and a hoop for it to jump through, at the end they all have rabbit pie while a caption reads; "Only one delicious rabbit was harmed during the filming of this show".
  • Used out of universe as a joke by Iwan Rheon, aka Ramsay Snow in Game of Thrones. When doing some media work to promote the series, Iwan joked "No Alfie Allens were harmed in the making of the show. He still has his penis".
  • Outsourced: The series ends with Gupta saying "No Indians were harmed in the filming of this video. Bye bye, for now," into the camcorder he uses to film the Dance Party after the wedding ceremony.
  • When Insomniac with Dave Attell was in New Orleans, the titular host rode along with the NOPD as they were exterminating Nutria. He finished the bit with the disclaimer, "Just in case you are wondering, a lot of animals were hurt during the shooting of this."
  • Poirot: A disclaimer in the end credits of Appointment with Death says, "No animals were harmed in the making of this film."
  • Iditarod: The Toughest Race on Earth: In light of then-recent outcries by animal rights groups about the well-being of Iditarod sled dogs, the series emphasizes how well the dogs are treated. The mushers know their dogs inside and out, and put their safety above all else. All dogs given a close physical check-up before the race; if a dog is sick or injured, they are pulled out and flown to Anchorage for medical treatment. The racers are not allowed to give their dogs injury-masking drugs of any kind. Each team is required to rest a full 24 hours, as well as take two eight-hour rests. Additionally, the race has 40 vets to take care of the dogs — but only one doctor to take care of the humans.
  • Frequently parodied in All Aussie Adventures: Russell Coight does accidentally kill a lot of wild animals while showcasing them to the audience, and the credits will tell us that "No animal was hurt more than once in the making of this program", or something equally non-reassuring.
  • The Secret Life of Us has this at the end of "The Truth About Cats and Dogs, Part 1", right after Evan runs over the neighbours' cat, who Kelly had previously threatened to kill after it crapped on her bed and spread fleas around their apartment.
  • MacGyver (1985): "Black Rhino" features an explicit message before the episode gets fully underway with its anti-poaching plot indicating that there is a scene depicting injury to an animal and that the injury and the animal have been simulated. The scene happens to be immensely heartbreaking, where a rhino had its whole horn shredded off by a chainsaw, is groaning as it bleeds out slowly, and it had to be put down.
  • A British TV series called Nine Nine Nine -the direct Transatlantic Equivalent of Rescue 911- once staged a reconstruction of a fire in a horse barn, leading presenter Michael Buerk to add a disclaimer at the end that not only were none of the horses injured during filming, they were all trained performance animals and weren't even scared for real. (And for the record, all the animals involved in the actual fire were safely evacuated and suffered no lasting harm.)
  • A Chappelle's Show skit parodying Law & Order featured a criminal's dog getting shot by raiding SWAT officers. Predictably, the skit ended with a No Animals Were Harmed disclaimer.
  • Paris Police 1900: The BBC broadcast of the series added a very large English-language disclaimer to the otherwise-untranslated French end credits, due to the extremely graphic scenes of animal slaughter and butchery in the first two episodes.

    Magazines 
  • In the "Bullseye" section of Entertainment Weekly Issue #1449 (January 20, 2017), one arrow on the "Miss" part points to Joe Coughlin from Live by Night in a fedora, whose caption on the bottom says, "Unfortunately, no hats were harmed during the making of this movie."
    • In the same section of EW's Issue #1473 (July 7, 2017), one arrow on the "Near-Miss" part points to a picture from Zoo, whose caption on the bottom says, "No animals were harmed in the making of Zoo, but unfortunately the same cannot be said for viewers."

    Music 
  • Humor a-capella group Moosebutter parodied this in their song "Captain Organic Vegetable Man":
    "No animals were harmed in the making of this song, including these: *various animal noises*... No vegetables were harmed in the making of this song, including:..."
  • The credits inside Eels' Daisies Of The Galaxy include a note that "no samples were harmed during the making of this record".
  • The music video for The Band Perry's "Chainsaw" features a large number of trees getting chopped down with chainsaws. A disclaimer at the end states that the video was shot at a renewable tree farm in Oregon.
  • PETA got uppity with Aerosmith over the album cover for Get a Grip, which depicts a cow with a pierced udder. Aerosmith responded that the piercing was photoshopped in.

    Music Videos 
  • The Robbie Williams Body Horror-filled music video "Rock DJ" ends with the disclaimer "No Robbies were harmed making this video".
  • The music video for Tomboy's "It's OK To Be Gay" ends with the disclaimer "No straight people were harmed during the production of this music video".
  • One Kesha video opens with a "No mythological creatures were harmed" disclaimer, then blows away several humanoid unicorns (who, of course, bleed rainbows).
  • A disclaimer at the end of Michael Jackson's music video for "Earth Song" says that no animals were harmed during the making of the video, though an unnamed poacher had killed an elephant within a mile of the shot.
  • The music video for Korn's Somebody Someone ends with the disclaimer "No insects were harmed in the filming of this video" in front of Jonathan Davis' hand with a squashed fly on it.
  • The VEVO video for Taylor Swift's song "Blank Space" had in its description, "No animals, trees, automobiles or actors were harmed in the making of this video."
    • Taylor's video of the 1989 tour had a disclaimer, "No cats were harmed in the making of this tour. Just one pop star."
  • Befitting the anti-authoritative leanings of its director and its stars, part of the video for "Sleep Now In The Fire" was illegally filmed outside the New York Stock Exchange. Captions at the end inform us that because of the ruckus that began when the NYPD tried to halt the performance, the exchange was forced to halt trading an hour before closing, but that "No money was harmed."

    Puppet Shows 
  • Parodied in the Season 2 finale of Mongrels, which shows a black-and-white montage of the many, many animals who have died on the show, set to Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing".

    Radio 
  • Episode 5 of The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy 1978: The Hexagonal Phase features a herd of Ameglian Major Cows (the species the Dish of the Day belongs to), all determined to be eaten. The Stinger states "For those concerned that any animals were mistreated in this episode, please note that the Amelgian Major Cows refused to have their scenes supervised by any animal welfare group. And very delicious they were, too."

    Tabletop Games 
  • In the credits for the Warhammer related game Mordheim, it is written that "No toads or rats were harmed during the production of Mordheim. Several fish were consumed."

    Theater 
  • In part of The Umbilical Brothers's "Don't Explain" show. That imaginary dog didn't die! It was switched with... hm... a false one.
  • The Complete History Of America Abridged begins with the voiceover disclaimer: "The animals used in tonight's performance were tortured under the strict supervision of the American Humane Society." Of course, the Minimalist Cast doesn't include any actual animals.

    Video Games 
  • Amazon: Guardians of Eden: The message at the end "The producers wish you to inform you that no insects were harmed in the making of this game." Considering you've killed an enormous ant not long before...
  • Parodied at least in the box art's back cover for the PlayStation version of Brain Dead 13:
    WARNING: EXTREME CARTOON VIOLENCE! No cartoon characters were maimed or mutilated during the making of this game.
  • Call of Duty 1 and 2 feature the line "No cows were harmed in the making of this game" at the end of their credits sequences.
  • After the end credits for ClayFighter 63 1/3, a message appears saying that "This animal was severely hurt in the making of this game. Rest in peace Lockjaw."
  • In The Darkside Detective, the end credits report that no pixels were harmed in the making of the game, but some of the programmers did get carpal tunnel.
  • Dreamfall: The Longest Journey ends with, among other things that happen after the credits, a reassuring message that "No grubbers were harmed in the making of this game". Grubbers are semi-sentient underground creatures whom the player must sneak past or physically disable on several occasions.
  • In the first F.E.A.R. game, the ending credits include the line "No Delta Force Operatives were harmed in the making of this game", in reference to the obscene number of them that die during the course of it.
  • Fight of Animals has the following disclaimer:
    Animals are adorable, we love them. It is shameful to let animals fighting each other in the REAL WORLD in anyway. We do not encourage any actions that harms or abuses any creatures on the planet. This game was simply for entertaining purposes, there are no animals injured or killed in the game.
  • Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist ends with "A total of 34 animals were injured or maimed in the making of this game. After all, we could accept nothing less than total and complete realism."
  • After reading through all the instructions for the Web Game Garfield's Sheep Shot — which revolves around using a slingshot to fire Counting Sheep at Garfield and various nuisances so the former can get enough sleep — a disclaimer appears to jokingly clarify "No cartoon sheep were harmed during the making of this game."
  • As pictured above, the disclaimer stating that no kangaroos were harmed during the game's making is actually the first thing the player will see when playing Hang A Roo. It comes before the title screen and the Developers' name.
  • The end credits for Bad Boys' Love in Hatoful Boyfriend states that no birds were harmed in the making of this game although many of the bird characters seriously were. It may have been because one bird is a Luzon Bleeding-Heart, a species with plumage that makes it look like they've been shot in the chest.
  • In Hedgewars, one of the menu tips is "No hedgehogs were harmed in making this game".
  • The Hexen II demo ended with the note that no sheep were harmed during its making.
  • At the end of HunCraft (a Hungarian Fan Sequel to StarCraft) the end credits say: "Lots of animals were harmed during the production of this game. And a Titan stepped on a duck."
  • The end credits for Interstate '76 proudly announce: "No polygonal animals were harmed during the making of this product."
  • In the Jak and Daxter trilogy movie (a free DVD shipped with copies of Jak X: Combat Racing, providing a look back at and a summary of the previous three games) narrated by Daxter himself, it's explicitly said, "Yes, an ottsel WAS harmed during the making of this game!" over images of him facing his usual abuse.
  • This is parodied in Left 4 Dead, a video game pastiche of a Zombie Apocalypse movie. After one of the campaigns are finished, a fake "Credits" screen rolls showing various statistics about the player's performances. This roll ends with "X zombies were harmed in the making of this film." where X is the number of zombies the players have slaughtered. As this number is generally about 1,500, this is a very awesome moment for the players.
  • The SNES version of Lemmings II: The Tribes has this in its end credits, presumably in homage to the Simpsons episode quoted at the top: "No Lemmings were hurt during the making of this game. One got sick, and somebody shot a duck, but that's about it."
  • In the Mass Effect 3 DLC Citadel, Wrex can say (if alive) "Looks like no humans were harmed in the making of this party".
  • "No animals were harmed in the making of MechWarrior Online. Only humans were harmed."
  • Miitopia plays this for laughs in its description for Frog Juice: "Don't worry, no frogs were harmed in the making of this juice."
  • After the final puzzle and cutscene in Mystery Case Files: Madame Fate, under the "To Be Continued" is a note that no actual carneys were harmed.
  • At the end of the trailer for The Outer Worlds, an unreadably fast wall of text informs you that some animals were harmed in the making of this advertisement, including five canids, two raptidons, and one genetically unidentifiable space organism.
  • The credits for Painkiller note that a few demons were, in fact, hurt pretty badly in the making of the game.
  • The first Pajama Sam game has this: "No animals were harmed and no cheese was eaten in the making of this game. Mmmmm, cheese. Bye bye now bye bye."
  • In Primal Rage, the Attract Mode includes the message, "No animals were harmed in any way during the making of Primal Rage." It's obviously a joke, as the fighting creatures are digitized Stop Motion figures.
  • Randal's Monday: Played With. You have to poison some pigeons to solve a puzzle later, and the game does clarify that they are dead. But they were also drawings, so whatever.
  • Ratchet & Clank:
    • Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, the game that features the Sheepinator, gives us:
      "No sheep were harmed in the making of this game. For the most part. The one that was had it coming."
    • Quest For Booty: "No heliogrubs were harmed in the making of this game."
  • The end credits for Resistance 2 end with the line "No gargantuan monsters were harmed in the making of this game", most likely in reference to the Kaiju-sized Leviathan in the Chicago level.
  • In the ending of the shareware version of Rise of the Triad, one of numerous gag messages in the ending text is "No animals were harmed during the creation of this video game, although one dog did get its butt spanked when it peed on the carpet."
  • In The Secret of Monkey Island, after Guybrush feeds a drugged hunk of meat to Governor Marley's piranha poodles, an important notice pops up: "These dogs are not dead, they are only SLEEPING. No animals were harmed during the production of this game." The Special Edition adds a bold voice-over that narrates the Important Notice.
  • Sid & Al's Incredible Toons presents this disclaimer in the manual:
    No toons were injured in the creation of this game. Our artists worked exclusively with nontoxic inks and erasers, and all animation was conducted with the express approval of the International Commission of Kindness and Humanity Toward Toons.
  • Parodied in one of Eggman's announcements in Sonic Colors. Well, at least the first sentence is true:
    "No aliens were harmed in the creation of this park. They were all harmed after the park was created."
  • No animals were mistreated or harmed in any way during the production of Spy Fox in Dry Cereal...although quite a few were milked.
  • Spyro the Dragon (1998): The end credits feature the disclaimer "No sheep were harmed during the making of this game. A few Gnorcs, but no sheep."
  • Starcraft included an assurance in the final credits that no pixel was harmed during the game production. (No guarantees about animals, given that this was the game where clicking on a critter could eventually make it go up in a mushroom cloud.)
  • The closing credits of Starship Titanic explain that "no starlings were harmed" for the game, referring to a puzzle where starlings are pureed using the ventilation system.
    • This puzzle is optional, by the way, allowing a less squicky solution.
  • Startopia: "No Memau where harmed during the making of this game."
  • Strike Series: At the end of the Sega Genesis version of Jungle Strike, there is a disclaimer that says something along the lines of "No bovine were harmed during the making of this game."
  • Super Bobido World (A Super Mario World Game Mod)) has the message "Lots of Koopas were hurt in the making of this" in the credits. As seen here.
  • An advertisement for a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game on the Nintendo Gamecube said, "No turtles were harmed in the making of this game (that part comes when you play it)".
  • One of the Loading Screen tips in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 is "No skateboarders were harmed in the making of this game. Except the ones who recorded bail mocap."

    Webcomics 

    Web Original 
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed and No Communities Were Harmed, right here on this very wiki.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series plays this in an episode.
    YAMI: No Duel Monsters were harmed in the making of this episode - except for Kuriboh.
  • Parodied in the credits of Yahtzee's review of Fable The Lost Chapters: "NO PUPPIES WERE HARMED DURING THE MAKING OF THIS VIDEO EXCEPT ONE WHO GENUINELY DESERVED IT"
  • "The Dr. Steel Show", Episode 1: "No Hamsters were harmed in the making of this film"
  • At the end of There she is!!! Step 2: Cake Dance "No animal was harmed in the making of this animation."
  • Parodied/Inverted in a video about Google Chrome OS and it's laptop: "25 computers were harmed in the making of this video."
  • "No Smurfs were harmed in the making of this list."
  • College Saga reports that "No animals were harmed in the making of this film. A lettuce head was however totally beaten up by our crew members. We would like to extend our grievances to the friends and family of the abused lettuce and pray for its early arrival to Vegetable Heaven."
  • The video podcast The Idiot Box ended the credits for each episode with an example of this trope appropriate to the show being mocked. (Examples: The Magic Clown tagged "No clowns were harmed..." and Ding Dong School with "No dolls were harmed...")
  • Project Million claims that "No Spazz Puppets Were Harmed" followed shortly by "...that's a lie". Several puppets were slashed to bits by Spazz himself.
  • Dr Ashen's guide to building a computer for next to nothing involves a rabbit.
    No rabbits were harmed in the making of this tutorial, although I did kick the shit out of a giraffe. The long necked, snooty bastard.
  • The Rooster Teeth Short Secret Door ends with the disclaimer, "No clones were harmed during the making of this short. Except Gavin 3. He's dead now.
  • Parodied in the credits of How To Make A Zamor Launcher PSA:
    Many Matoran and Toa were hurt during the making of this movie.
    I will not lie to you - we had some pretty bad injuries on set.
    No one died or anything, but let me tell you, they certainly pushed the limits of their medical coverage.
    Don't worry, no animals were hurt. Now you nutters who could care less about sapient beings can go home happy.
  • Several episodes of The League of S.T.E.A.M. end with this statement:
    All animals in this production were safely and lovingly handled by their owners. All monsters and creatures defeated by The League of S.T.E.A.M. have been rehabilitated and given homes in a cryptozoological preserve.
  • Found on the Geocities page susansthoughts:
    No animals were harmed during the creation of this web page, though my cat got confused occasionally.
  • Minilife TV: In "The Semi-Finals":
    No real cats were bombed in the making of this episode.
    • The Splitzies 5000!!!":
    Cats were harmed during the making of this video.
  • "Deadpool: The Musical" parodies this at the end of each short film:
    • "Deadpool: The Musical":
      No actual unicorns were harmed in the making of this non-profit, non-commercial fan film.
      Just gently loved.
    • "Deadpool: The Musical 2":
      One Fleshlight was harmed during the making of this film.
  • Screen Rant Pitch Meetings discusses the "no animals were harmed" disclaimer at the beginning of RRR (2022).
    Screenwriter: When you see a man throw a leopard at another man in this bromance, that's not a real leopard.
    Producer: What kind of bromance is this?!
  • Uno: The Movie by Achievement Hunter pulls one involving someone who wasn't even part of the "movie": "No Michaels were harmed".
  • Parodied in this video posted by Lancaster Archery Supply, a major archery dealer in Pennsylvania. After COVID, LAS started a contest as part of its annual customer appreciation event in which LAS employees and a couple of guest shooters try to put an arrow into various animal targets (in the linked video, an elk [wapiti]). Said targets are made of steel, with only a relatively small cutout representing the animal's vitals. The video opens with the following tagline:
    WARNING
    Arrows were harmed in the making of this film

    Western Animation 
  • Cartoons That Never Made It: "Frothy Dawg" has its end credits end with the message "No animals were seriously injured in the making of this Frothy Dawg gimmick".
  • The Critic: "Celebrity voices were impersonated. No Celebrities Were Harmed in the making of this episode."
  • In the Cow and Chicken episode "I Scream Man", the Red Guy addresses the audience at the end to assure that no Abbor Day piggies were hurt during the making of the cartoon, and then goes into a tirade about how he was hurt (emotionally), more than once and blames David Feiss, the creator of the cartoon, for not hiring a stunt double.
  • In Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure one of the charges the Boogey Man levies against Billy, Mandy and Grim is that they are "mean to baby animals". The end credits has a disclaimer saying "no one was mean to baby animals during the making of this cartoon".
  • At the end of the Family Guy episode "Dog Gone", which featured several graphic animal death scenes, Peter says:
    We here at Family Guy want you to know that we respect all living beings, and assure you, that no animals were harmed in the making of this episode. But we're about to hurt the feelings of this Italian opera singer by prematurely dropping the curtain on his performance.
  • Pelswick: "Kick Me Kate" has Pelswick saying, "No cartoon animals were harmed in the making of this television episode. Thank you!" A goat appears with him.
  • An episode of Johnny Bravo, where the climax involved him preventing the Army from attacking his rampaging pet dinosaur, ends with the general trying to inform the viewers that "no Army personnel were harmed" in the making of the cartoon, only to get interrupted by the aforementioned dinosaur eating him.
  • In the credits of Sheep in the Big City's first episode there is this message:
    "No sheep were injured during the filming of this special. The next day, however, Sheep walked into a wall and stubbed his toe."
  • In the credits of The Emperor's New School episode "The Puma Whisper", Kuzco claims that there were no emperors harmed - afterwards, he is attacked by a puma.
  • King of the Hill: In "Serves Me Right for Giving General George S. Patton the Bathroom Key", Hank announces to the audience at the end of the episode, "No pipes were harmed in the making of this episode."
  • Little Dogs on the Prairie has “no animals were harmed in the making of this program, however there were a few times we wanted to roll up a newspaper and give a few executives a whack on the nose”.
  • In Invader Zim, a disclaimer at the end of the episode "Hamstergeddon" says, "No animated characters were harmed in the filming of this production."
  • In Rocko's Modern Life, a disclaimer at the end of "Hut Sut Raw" says, "No shrews were harmed during the making of this episode."
  • The Series Finale of Daria features a curse removal potion with the disclaimer "No animals were harmed other than the ones we sacrificed."
  • "Crashbox": "No slobs were harmed in the filming of this show."
  • The Simpsons: The episode "Dog of Death" has this at the end.
    No dogs were harmed in the filming of this episode. A cat got sick, and somebody shot a duck, but that's it.
  • The 1992 Blinky Bill movie has this: "The producers emphasise that this film depicts the consequences of logging carried out illegally and without proper consideration for the environment. Logging under approved procedures would not create the destruction of the environment portrayed in this film. Any similarity of the characters and voices in this film to actual persons in unintentional."
    • The third series during the Yoram Gross era: "No animals were harmed during the making of this series."
  • The VeggieTales episode Silly Sing-Along 2: The End of Silliness? has this: "No Animals were injured during the filming of this song (The Yodeling Veterinarian of the Alps)."

    Real Life 
  • The back of a carton of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey ice cream states that no monkeys were harmed in the making of this product, although a few bananas may have been roughed up a little... This might have to do with an incident where the flavor sold poorly when it was first released in Japan, despite positive response from focus groups, due to the name being mistranslated to mean "Chunks of Monkey".
  • Top Gear has t-shirt labels stating that: "These t-shirts were tested on animals. They didn't fit."
  • At one time 7-Eleven would have smoking ID plaques that said "18 in Dog Years doesn't count" with the picture of a dog wearing sunglasses and holding a (fake) cigarette in its mouth. The fine print at the bottom read "No Dogs were harmed in the making of this image. One however, got a little crunk."
  • At one point in the UK, IKEA sold a special version of their hot dogs called "corgi dogs", which was the basic hot dog in a corgi-shaped wrapper. Any physical advertisements featuring them had some small print stating that "no corgis were harmed".


 
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This Bird Is Insane

In "Joe Schmo 2," host "Derek Newcastle" (Ralph Garman) describes the struggles of working with Montecore, a trained falcon who delivers the "Falcon Twists" on the fake reality program "Last Chance for Love."

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