27 animals died during 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' filming

27 animals had died while filming the hit movie 'The Hobbit

The report by The Hollywood Reporter accuses the American Humane Association of neglecting cruelty that took place on a New Zealand farm during the filming of the film in 2011, the Independent reported.

When an animal trainer working on the film informed an AHA official of the fatalities in 2012, he was told that the lack of physical evidence would make it hard to investigate the claim further.

However, when the trainer replied that he had buried the animals himself and knew of their location, the AHA representative said that since the deaths took place off-set they cannot be officiated.

The film was later given the carefully worded credit that noted it "monitored all of the significant animal action. No animals were harmed during such action".