'Life of Pi' animal trainer caught on video whipping tiger

Los Angeles: Hollywood's animal trainer Michael Hackenberger, who trained the tiger in Oscar-winning film "Life of Pi" and the animals in James Franco's comedy "The Interview", has been caught on tape brutally beating a tiger for training.

In the video, Hackenberger even admits that he enjoys the whipping, reports aceshowbiz.com.

I like hitting him in the face. And the paws - which get the paws off. And... The beauty of the paws being on the rock, when you hit him, it's like a vice. It stings more," said Hackenberger, the owner of Bowmanville Zoological Park in Bowmanville, Ontario.

But, here's the problem at the end of the day. If ... we'd been running a videotape the whole time you were here, and you did a 45-second... montage of the times I struck this animal, PETA (animal rights organisation People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) would burn this place to the ground, he added.