Life of Pi sort of with a capital 'S' – something that would direct my life." He spoke of being lonely and needing direction in his life, and found that writing the novel met this need. The name of Martel's tiger, Richard Parker, was inspired by a character in Edgar Allan Poe's nautical adventure novel "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket" (1838). In this book, Richard Parker is a mutineer who is stranded and eventually cannibalized on the hull of an overturned ship (and there is a dog aboard who is named Tiger). The author also had in mind another occurrence
Life of Pi (film) to the ACA. Additionally, the exposé alleges that Johnson was involved in a romantic relationship with one of the film's producers, possibly representing a conflict of interest. "Life of Pi" director Ang Lee has described the animal abuse allegations as "an accident" in interviews. Following the publication of the Hollywood Reporter investigation, Gina Johnson resigned from her position with the ACA. New animal welfare concerns were raised in 2015 when PETA released a video that appeared to show "Life of Pi" animal trainer Michael Hackenberger swearing at and whipping a young tiger 19 times. In April 2016, the Ontario Society