Detailed Animal Action Report

The Film and TV Unit of the American Humane Association (AHA) monitored the action sequences involving animals. The AHA has sole authority, through a contract with the Screen Actors Guild, to protect animals used in film and television. Inspectors reviewed the script and action scenes before and during filming to ensure that animals were not harmed or mistreated and that AHA Guidelines for the Safe Use of Animals in Filmed Media were upheld. They also monitor conditions in which animals were housed during production.

A horse-drawn sleigh helps Scott in the romance department when he decides to court his son’s school principal, Carol (Elizabeth Mitchell). Despite arriving at Carol’s home unannounced, Scott soon wins her over with a picturesque sleigh ride in the snow. A brother and sister Welsh Mountain pony team named Rascal and Mischief pulled the lightweight sleigh at a slow trot down an enclosed street covered in artificial snow. Trainers stood off-camera directing their path.

When not working in the limelight on film sets, Rascal and Mischief soak up attention at various shows and parades throughout British Columbia.

All of Santa’s hard-working reindeer were animatronic, as were the mice used in the “replicator” machine at Santa’s workshop. “