PETA

8:40 AM PT-- Hackenberger just announced he is stepping down as Director of the zoo ... but still proclaims his innocence.

Bowmanville Zoo owner Michael Hackenberger, the trainer PETA filmed whipping a tiger, has been charged with 5 counts of animal cruelty by Ontario's SPCA.

The SPCA filed the charges Wednesday after thoroughly reviewing the Bowmanville Zoo, which he owns and where he trains his animals.

The charges against Hackenberger are based on the video which surfaced 4 months ago, and include causing the animal distress by striking it with a whip handle, repeatedly striking it with a whip, and pushing his thumb into the animal’s eye.

He was also charged for failing to comply with the animal care standards required by law. In Canada, the SPCA has the right to remove animals and file charges. For now, it's only closely monitoring Hackenberger's zoo.

Jada Pinkett Smith is starting to catch heat for adorning her living room with what appears to be some sort of ivory tusk ... but we've learned it's as fake as a Big Foot sex tape.

We're told the tusks -- there are actually 2 of them -- are ceramic and hollow.

For the record, it's illegal to buy and sell elephant tusks.

Get the point?

PETA is blowing the whistle on celebrity animal trainer Michael Hackenberger by releasing a brutal video showing him whipping a tiger several times until it cowers on its back during a training session.

Hackenberger is the director of the Bowmanville Zoo in Ontario, Canada and his Hollywood credits include "The Interview," "Life of Pi" and "George of the Jungle," a Disney movie.

It's painful to watch ... Hackenberger appears to whip the animal about 20 times. At one point in the video, he admits PETA would burn his training facility to the ground if they saw his training techniques.

Hackenberger's denying PETA's claims ... he argues he was hitting the ground with his whip and that PETA sliced the video to make it look worse.

It's been a bad year for big cats.

Kim Kardashian kind of undermined a pair of animal rights advocates Thursday night, when her people got them to buy her book and then threw them out before they could meet Kim and make a fuss.

The 2 women showed up at The Grove in L.A., where hundreds of people lined up for a John Hancock on Kim's new book, "Selfish."

The women made their case to our photog after they were booted, saying Kim has the power to be a positive influence by urging her fans to stop wearing fur manufactured by horrific methods of animal torture.

Kim has never really addressed animal cruelty in the fur industry, only saying, "I believe everyone has the choice of what they want. It's not illegal to buy fur."

GoDaddy pulled its Super Bowl commercial featuring an adorable lost puppy doggy after it pissed off PETA. It's sad news for fans of hysterical commercials, puppies and also Danica Patrick.

Although DP really only lost about who .005 seconds of camera time ... so she'll be fine.

Sarah Palin is biting back at critics who blasted her for the Facebook pic of her son standing on the family dog ... and taking a shot at the dog-eating Prez in the process.

Palin took to Facebook Saturday, targeting PETA for bashing her ... calling the org hypocrites that only give passes to celebs who have helped them.

She muses, "Did you go as crazy when your heroic Man-of-Your-Lifetime, Barack Obama, revealed he actually enjoyed eating dead dog meat?" True story, Google it.

Palin accused the org. of celeb worshiping ... then adding they treat doggie Jill better than many people treat human beings.

A rep for PETA tells us, "Palin's Facebook response shows us that she knows PETA about as well as she knows geography."

The cold-hearted bastard who kicked a squirrel off a Grand Canyon ledge will absolutely be hunted down because he pissed off the wrong people ... according to actor Fisher Stevens.

Fisher was outside BOA Steakhouse last night when we told him about the insane story -- 2 French-speaking men recently used bread crumbs to lure the squirrel, and then one of them punted the poor animal into the air. Video of the crime went viral.

Now the suspects have law enforcement on their asses, but Fisher thinks the key to their capture might be PETA's $15,000 bounty.

Fisher's an animal rights advocate himself -- he won the Oscar for "The Cove" -- and thinks the killers won't get away with it while PETA's on the case.

Joan Rivers lashed out at animal rights protesters at her book signing Tuesday ... insisting she's exposing the dead animals on her back to culture.

Joan was at Barnes and Noble in Times Square hawking her new book, "Diary of a Mad Diva" ... when someone from the animal rights org asked her why she insisted on wearing fur.

Joan seems stumped at first ... then lashes out.

And then the twist ... Joan seems to say she's not in the market for buying new furs, but she's not opposed to wearing the old ones.

Joan tells the crowd the furs have 2 options ... her basement or The Met.

Bindi Irwin -- the newly-minted spokesperson/tool for SeaWorld ... will gladly talk about Australian mammals, but dare to even dance around the subject of whales and you'll get shut down.

Bindi and her mom were cruising through Rockefeller Plaza in NYC when our photog asked the 15-year-old about her favorite animal. She was all chatty until our guy switched gears and asked her if she was an animal expert ... and that's all she wrote.

The handler swooped in and shut things down, because it was clearly headed in a "Blackfish" direction.

Anti-fur activist Khloe Kardashian made her views explicit in NYC Monday morning -- rocking a fake fur coat on the street ... with the words "FXCK YO FUR" spray-painted on her back in bright red letters.

Khloe has spoken out against wearing fur for years -- and even partnered with PETA on several campaigns, but she cut ties with the organization in 2012 after a PETA-affiliated activist dumped flour on Kim K during a red carpet event.

73-year-old "Babe" star James Cromwell got off easy after his disorderly conduct arrest last month ... when he burst into a UW-Madison board meeting, protesting cat torture at the university.

Cromwell's case was called today in Wisconsin where he pled no contest to a low level charge of disorderly conduct. His punishment is a measly $100 fine, which he paid on the spot.

As we reported, Cromwell was busted along with a PETA spokesperson after they barged into the board meeting, claiming the school's labs tortured cats in the name of science. Cromwell waved a sign with a photo of an abused cat, and shouted, "This is not science! This is cruel!"

A rep for the D.A. tells us, prosecutors went easy because the duration of yelling wasn’t particularly long, he cooperated with law enforcement, no one in the room was really disturbed by the protest, and he had no criminal history.

And it WAS kinda funny.

Dustin Hoffman says the TMZ reports surrounding the deaths of 3 horses on the set of "Luck" last year are to blame for his show getting canceled ... claiming our facts were wrong.

Dustin just gave an interview to FoxNews.com, saying the "real" reason the show was canceled was due to a collaboration between PETA and TMZ ... and NOT because the public was upset that THREE horses died during production.

Hoffman said, "It’s completely distorted. Anyone who raises horses know they break their legs. The accusations they made were distorted."

He also directs people to the horse racing website Paulick Report for the "real reason the show was canceled."

Truth is, the TMZ stories are in sync with what was reported on the Paulick Report.

Here are the facts that we published on TMZ.com:

-- THREE horses died during the production of the show
(Confirmed by Paulick Report)

-- Horse #3 was euthanized on the set ... and production continued a few hours later
(Euthanasia confirmed by Paulick Report)

-- HBO acknowledged the deaths ... and released a statement saying “accidents unfortunately happen."

Bruce Jenner is rallying behind his stepdaughter Kim Kardashian -- claiming the rogue PETA member who dumped flour on her last week is nothing more than a pathetic little "ass."

Bruce and Kris Jenner were leaving LAX yesterday -- when a photog asked what they thought about the flour-bombing PETA activist Christina Cho blasting Kim for wearing the flesh of dead animals.

Bruce didn't miss a beat, calling Cho an "ass." Meanwhile, Kris played coy.

Khloe Kardashian is cutting off all ties with PETA ... claiming she will NOT support an organization that condones the "bullying" art of flour bombing.

Khloe -- who has appeared on several billboards for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals -- says she was disgusted when she found out the organization has ties to the woman who attacked her sister Kim.

Now, she's released a statement saying, "Not only has PETA lied to the public, but they have proved that they support this kind of behavior. I’ve been a vocal supporter of PETA for a long time but I have also been very vocal about anti-bullying, so this was a huge disappointment for me."

TMZ broke the story ... the woman who floured Kim at a red carpet event last week is Christina Cho ... a major PETA activist with a history of anti-fur protesting.

Here's Khloe's entire statement:

"Hi dolls. I’m sure you all heard what happened to Kim last week (thank you SO much for the love and support you all showed her), and I just received word that the woman responsible has very close ties to PETA, despite PETA publicly stating otherwise.

Kim Kardashian's flour attacker is a mega-influential PETA activist -- despite the animal organization denying ANY connection to the anti-fur activist's recent flour bombing stunt.

The woman's name is Christina Cho -- and she has a history of staging dramatic anti-fur protests in PETA's name. Back in 2010, she grabbed the mic from Donna Karan at a Women's Conference event in NYC, condemning the use of fur in fashion (below).

PETA reported on the protest -- referring to Christina as a "PETA member" and "superstar activist." Christina even won an award from PETA in 2010 for her work for the organization.

Christina's younger sister Michelle is a top PETA official in L.A., who credits Christina with leading her to PETA and a life of activism.

As we previously reported, PETA is adamant it wasn't behind Christina's outburst last week -- when she dumped flour on Kim Kardashian at a red carpet event -- telling TMZ, "It was not [us]. We were given the video by an anti-fur activist on the scene."

Kim Kardashian is selfish, will do anything to keep herself in the news and doesn't have a heart ... so says PETA, in reaction to the news KK is planning to press charges against the girl who threw flour on her at an event Thursday night.

In a statement to TMZ, the animal rights group (which claims it had nothing to do with the incident), says, "If she presses charges, at least people will be constantly reminded of her selfish, callous disregard for the cruel deaths that she causes by wearing fur."

They continue, "How much better it would be if she decided to evolve and enhance her image by donating her vulgar furs and exotic-animal skins to the homeless. The activist acted from the heart, something Kim doesn't seem to have."

PETA concludes their statement by saying, "If anything, Kim should get a life, the very thing that she denies animals."

PETA also tells TMZ they'd be willing to help the flour-tosser with her defense costs, if she asked them.