Pets

The guy who played Jim McCoy on the hit History Channel mini-series "Hatfields & McCoys" claims he was bucked off a horse on the set and suffered serious injuries back in 2011 -- and now he's suing, TMZ has learned.

Thomas McKay -- who also stars in "The White Queen" on Starz -- has filed a lawsuit against the producers of "H&M" claiming they lied to his face when they told him he was in good hands with the on-set horse experts.

According to the suit, filed in L.A. County Superior Court, Thomas claims the handlers were not only incompetent -- but they put him on a horse that was ill and out of control.

The result -- Thomas claims his horse became uncontrollable during the filming of a scene, bolted, and "subsequently threw [him] into a tree."

McKay claims he suffered serious and permanent injuries -- which caused "great physical, mental and nervous pain." The exact injuries were not disclosed.

McKay also claims the horses were abused on the set -- which was in Romania.

The 33-year-old actor is suing Hatfield & McCoys Productions, Thinkfactory Media and others for unspecified damages.

Rapper Chief Keef is literally becoming a naysayer. ... because of a very unorthodox form of community service he's been ordered to perform.

Keef -- who was arrested for speeding and given 60 hours of community service -- will do the time at a Chicago area equestrian center which uses horses to provide physical and occupational therapy for people with disabilities.

The folks at Horsefeathers tell us ... Keef will feed and groom the animals. He'll also clean the barn and scoop up horse poop.

BTW... Keef has other legal problems -- he was just ordered to go to rehab for violating his probation by testing positive for marijuana.

The Village People are relevant again ... thanks to the Breeder's Cup winning thoroughbred Mucho Macho Man -- and now the group's desperate to repay the horse with a performance of his namesake song.

Macho’s owners -- Dean and Patti Reeves -- tell TMZ the disco icons sent them a good luck card back in August … and now that Macho's come up victorious … VP has agreed to play at a celebration for the horse.

The Reeves haven't worked out details of the party just yet, but say VP will be involved. In the meantime, we're told the group wants to meet Mucho by Skype ... which we're guessing will be a pretty one-sided discussion.

Macho flew home to Florida today on a custom 737 dubbed “Air Horse One” -- 'cause well ... he can. As for eventually hooking up with the Village People ... Mucho does seem to like the song. Or maybe he's just happy to hear anything besides "YMCA."

Denise Richards has informed the L.A. County Dept. of Children and Family Services she will NO LONGER care for the twins of Charlie Sheen and Brooke Mueller ... TMZ has learned.

Sources connected with DCFS tell TMZ ... Denise wrote a letter to the agency, saying the kids are violent and out of control, and she says it's ALL Brooke's fault.

DCFS sources say the letter details horrifying conduct. Denise says Bob and Max often go into a "zombie-like state" -- they repeatedly kick her dogs in the head and squeeze their heads with both hands while watching the dogs whimper in pain. She also says the kids will flip from sweetly petting the dog to strangling the animals and lifting them off the ground by the neck.

According to the letter, Denise would tell the kids they were hurting the dogs, and Bob and Max would reply that they wanted to hurt and kill the dogs.

According to the letter, the violence is not limited to animals. Denise says her daughters -- Sam, Lola and Eloise -- have been targets of the boys. She says her daughters have been strangled, kicked in the head and stomach, scratched, bit, slapped, punched in the face and head, and spit on by Bob and Max. Denise describes one incident which she seems to blame on Brooke -- after visiting Mueller, Bob threw a toy at Sam's face and she had to go to the doctor.

Denise says Bob and Max went to school in September and they have been problematic from the get-go. She says Bob in particular has harmed other kids and punched and slapped teachers in the face.

Denise says the kids have also thrown their own feces into the bathroom of one of her daughters.

In the letter, Denise connects the bad conduct to the time the kids spend at Brooke's home, claiming they act out violently when they are returned to Denise. She also says the kids have had horrible nightmares after returning from Brooke's home, where the kids would stay up with her til 4 AM.

Charlie Sheen's twins are not freaked out by the giant lizards in Brooke Mueller's house ... they love the squirmy creatures -- according to sources connected to Brooke.

Charlie told TMZ his kids are off the hinges when they come home from a stay at Brooke's ... scared to death by the lizards that are terrorizing her home.

Charlie thinks it is yet another example of Brooke's appalling parenting skills ... but our Brooke sources say the kids actually love the lizards and happily play with them for hours.

They also say the lizards are well contained.

TMZ broke the story ... Brooke's first overnight with the kids since living in rehab was last night.

Stay tuned.

The fate of the Los Angeles Lakers rests in the hands of Kobe Bryant ... which is why it might be concerning that his hands are near the mouth of A LIVE MAN-EATING LION!!!

Kobe faced down the king of the jungle at an L.A. studio today ... during a commercial shoot for Turkish Airlines. Kobe's a celebrity spokesman for the airline.

Check out the pics above ... that's Kobe sticking his right hand (his shooting hand, mind you) directly up to the lion's mouth.

Fortunately, Kobe emerged without a scratch ... and he's lucky ... 'cause as everyone knows, big cats can be dangerous to humans. Just ask Adam Sandler ...

Legendary animal expert Jack Hanna finally has an answer to the question on everybody's mind this week ... telling us he ACTUALLY KNOWS what the fox says.

Ylvis posed the question ... so we wanted an answer -- and it turns out the guys from the group were pretty close.

Hanna says the animal makes a high-pitched squealing noise "almost like the sound a dog toy would make."

The animal wrangler tells us he's glad the group is getting people talking about animals ... but hasn't heard the song.

Now enjoy a video of Jack's favorite kind of fox getting all Joff-tchoff-tchoffo-tchoffo-tchoff.

America's precious pigeon population is in danger -- especially in NYC -- so says famed pigeon lover Mike Tyson, who claims the government has launched an evil campaign to get rid of our gray little friends forever!!!

Tyson was at LAX yesterday when the conversation inevitably turned to his beloved animals -- in the words of Woody Allen, "rats with wings" -- and he explained his conspiracy theory ... that municipalities like NYC have introduced falcons to curb the pigeon population.

He's not far off ... according to a government report from 2007 -- called "Curbing the Pigeon Conundrum" -- NYC officials have used hawks to keep pigeons in check ... but that brief experiment ended in 2003 when one hawk attacked a small dog.

So there you go ... it's pigeon lovers vs. hawk conservationists ... which means, we gotta ask ...

Todd's wife Christy tells TMZ ... they had no idea the Rockies would be gifting him a horse during his send off -- but it's not a problem ... cause they just happen to have a 4,000 acre ranch (perks of earning more than $160 million).

We're told the horse -- named A Tru Bustamove -- is worth $45,000 and the Heltons already have a nickname for him ... "Busta."

Woo ha! Woo ha!!

Rihanna flirted with death and then triggered arrests after posting a pic of an adorable little animal ... that can kill you.

Rihanna was in Phuket, Thailand and posed with a loris. Seems innocent enough.

Here's the problem. The critter is an endangered animal indigenous to Southeast Asia and there's a law that says you can't charge tourists money to take pics with endangered primates.

Rihanna Instagrammed the photo and people started bitching in Phuket. Authorities corralled the 2 guys who took the photo -- ages 16 and 20 -- and busted them.

FYI -- Loris carry poison that can be deadly. When they get pissed off they release the toxins from their elbow, put the juice in their mouth and if it touches humans they can go into anaphylactic shock.

P.S. Rihanna also went to some sex shows. That can kill you too.

The "Grand Theft Auto V" boycott being called for by an animal rights org. is a molotov cocktail full of crap -- according to sources directly connected to the game ... who add the group is using GTA for shameless publicity.

Our GTA sources tell us game makers are calling BS on In Defense of Animals' attack on GTA -- saying the game does NOT push "institutionalized" animal violence on kids ... because it's not made for kids.

One source points out the game has a mature audiences only label, and kids under 17 can't buy it ... so there's no harm in showing adult situations to grown ups.

"It's a fake world with exaggerated real world problems" the source adds. "People shoot animals in real life, why should that be hidden from an adult video game?!"

"Grand Theft Auto V" crossed the line by allowing game-playing children to run over, behead and kill animals -- and a prominent animal rights group is calling for a boycott.

Jack Carone from In Defense of Animals tells TMZ ... his group is incensed that Rockstar Games is capitalizing off animal torture -- and it doesn't matter if it's real or fake. He says it perpetuates what he calls "institutionalized violence" against helpless animals.

"The makers of this game have traded decency for money" Jack says, adding, "Encouraging the darkest impulses of young people is not an admirable pursuit."

Regardless ... Carone says, "animals don't need any more targets painted on them in the name of fun."

So we gotta ask ...

Ashley Greene caused the fire inside of her apartment that killed one of her dogs ... it's now official, and her insurance company has to pony up over $305k to pay for the damage.

The owner of Ashley's unit tells TMZ ... Ashley's insurance company had been stalling for months. An insurance company rep told the owner they were having trouble getting Ashley to sit down for an interview. Apparently that happened, and the company is now convinced the actress was responsible for the blaze.

The owner of the unit is pissed, because she doesn't have the cash to make the repairs ... but she will soon.

As we previously reported -- both of Ashley's dogs were inside the apartment when a lit candle fell over and set the place on fire ... only one got out alive. Ashley, her brother and a friend were also inside. None of them were hurt.

Russell Simmons' girlfriend Hana Nitsche is heartbroken ... and "freaking out" because her pet Chihuahua, Ivy, DISAPPEARED three days ago ... and she's hoping a HUGE reward -- $5,000 -- will help bring Ivy back.

Hana -- a German fashion model -- is plastering reward posters all over town ... and bombarding social media with desperate appeals to find her dog -- which vanished Tuesday near Doheny Drive in West Hollywood.

Her tweets have gotten increasingly frantic: "My heart is in so much pain!!" ... "I'm really freaking out!!!" ... "I'm really getting desperate."

Russell has joined the search, too ... posting Ivy's pic and the reward offer on Twitter.

So, if you can read this Ivy ... COME HOME!!!

"2 Broke Girls" star Beth Behrs was viciously attacked by her neighbor's dog Wednesday ... so say people in her L.A. building ... and the actress even called Animal Control to handle the situation.

Luckily, Behrs wasn't injured in the attack ... but we're told the neighbor's pit bull mix did bite off a chunk of her sweater.

Here's what happened ... building sources tell us, Behrs was with her Yorkie Betty when a neighbor approached while walking a large brown lab and a pit bull mix. It's unclear why, but we're told the pit reared up and attacked Behrs, tearing a chunk off her sweater.

We're told Behrs was extremely upset by the attack and immediately called Animal Control, which eventually responded to the scene. Sources say the neighbor was fined as a result of the incident, and has been instructed to keep the dogs under better control.

Thankfully, no one was hurt, including the dogs. Ruff day.