RUMOR - Did the third Pokemon movie almost include real-world animals?

There's been a long-running debate about the fate of real-world animals in the Pokemon world. One famous episode of the anime shows Ash spotting a real-life fish in an aquarium, sparking rumors that there were indeed real-life animals in the Pokemon universe at one time. There hasn't really been any confirmation/denial from the Pokemon company ever since, but an old blog seems to give some insight into the matter.

Pokémon 3: The Movie: Entei - Spell of the Unown as we know it ended up being very different from the original plan. That's according to documents from the late Shudou Takeshi. Mr. Takeshi was involved in the Pokemon anime series and the movie as well, and it seems he kept very detailed documents on all work that went into the show. According to details he left behind, the third movie was originally going to include a Tyrannosaurus Rex and would also address questions about real-life animals.

As you know, that never happened in the third film. Interesting to see that perhaps the team behind the anime was discussing this route at some point! If you want to read more on Mr. Takeshi's notes, you can do so right here. Thanks to Lars for the heads up!