Animal film award by American Humane Association — recognizes outstanding animal training and ethical on-set treatment. Since 1951.
You'll primarily know the PATSY Award from older Hollywood productions — it has been the American Humane Association's award for animal actors and their handling on set since 1951. The name stands for Picture Animal Top Star of the Year, and yes, that's actually meant seriously. The Association gave itself a dual task: on the one hand, to honor training performance, and on the other — and this is the more important part — to document that animals were not mistreated during production.
Practically, this means for your crew: American Humane sends an Animal Safety Representative to set to oversee the entire shoot. No major scenes with animals without their presence. For a long time, this set real standards before there were specialized animal trainers and modern welfare guidelines. For older classics — think of the Universal-Timayu films or MGM productions with lions and horses — the certificate at the end was a mark of quality. Audiences could rely on the animal not being harmed. That was not a given at the time.
The practice today has become much more differentiated. While the PATSY Award itself still exists, it carries less weight than before — the business model of digital effects and CGI animals has changed a lot. However: If you are still working with real animals — horses, dogs, birds — collaboration with such organizations is standard. They dictate techniques, distances, lighting, and the number of takes. This sometimes restricts creativity, but it's the right restriction.
The cultural context of the PATSY is important: it emerged in an era when animal welfare was not yet an established standard in Hollywood. The Association did pioneering work with it — comparable to the first safety rules for stunt performers. Today, the award is more of a historical relic, but the ethical standard it set is firmly anchored in every professional production with animal actors. If you look through the credits of major dramas or Western classics, you'll still find the note "No animals were harmed in the making of this picture" — the direct legacy of the PATSY concept.