It's a fair question, in light of a new investigation made by The Hollywood Reporter. I came across it recently in a news feed. It's pretty harrowing stuff.

The list of accusations is surprising to say the least. The death and mistreatment of animals from such films as "Life of Pi," "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," "Eight Below," "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," and the cable TV series "Luck," are documented in the report. In some cases, horses, dogs and sheep were savagely hurt or killed.

In the case of "Life of Pi," a film that primarily used computer graphics to tell the story of the Bengal tiger Richard Parker, the actual animal used for the film nearly drowned in production.

Yet in most instances those projects earned the trademark disclaimer stating "No Animals Were Harmed" in the production – a label granted by the American Humane Association. (Note: the AHA is a different entity from the U.S. Humane Society.)

The report from THR goes deeper into how that organization has embedded itself into Hollywood, and whether the oversight it makes on the set has any legitimacy.

But I find it revealing that the glitterati of Hollywood, who raise enormous sums of money for animal rights organizations by assailing agricultural producers as "factory farming," don't seem to object when the film industry kills or harms its own animals.

Remember that next time you hear celebrities claim you have blood on your hands if you eat a patty melt.