Posted on 12/06/2009 3:23:09 PM PST by FromLori
Two stars of the reality TV show "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here" have been charged with animal cruelty after allegedly killing and cooking a rat to eat during filming.
Chef Gino D'Acampo who won the viewer-feedback contest series, and actor Stuart Manning were charged after animal welfare activists lodged a complaint about a segment for the British TV program, which was filmed in Australia, the activists and British media reported Sunday.
In a statement to The Associated Press, New South Wales state police said Sunday that two men, aged 33 and 30, were charged with animal cruelty for acts in connection to the program but did not give names or other details. They have been asked to appear in court to face the charge on Feb. 3. The maximum penalty is three years in prison.
D'Acampo is 33 years old and Manning 30.
The show's producer, ITV, confirmed in a statement that "the New South Wales RSPCA are currently looking into an incident in which a rat was killed in the camp."
"The killing of a rat for a performance is not acceptable. The concern is this was done purely for the cameras," David O'Shannessy of the New South Wales RSPCA told the British Broadcasting Corp.
He said producers were normally required to have animal welfare officers on set when animals were used during filming, but in this case it did not take place.
"I'm a Celebrity" strands C-list celebrities in the Australian jungle, subjects them to a series of icky trials involving spiders and snakes, and allows the public to vote them off the show one by one.
Killing wildlife cuts CO2 emissions. It’s OK now.
They were hungry and this was food.
Thats an interesting precedent to charge them.
It would be one thing to kill a ‘Rat, but I would never sink my teeth into one. STD’s and all.
As the weather gets colder I’m taking out about one mouse per day.
If the Dems complete their conquest for total control of the economy and our lives, we’ll all be eating rats to survive.
It may be gross the animal cruelty to a rat. What about human cruelty. That I’m a Celebrity show is human cruelty for sure!
I wonder how long it will be before they try to press charges for that.
What they left out was this rat was 6 feet tall and named Simon Cowell.
Do they allow cooking shows over there? Where they actually cook (gasp!) chickens and such? So would it be okay for them to cook a chicken that they had bought at the market, but they couldn’t kill one on the show? What is the difference?
(And btw, I don’t think you could pay me enough money to eat a rat! I’d eat one if I were truly starving ... but not for money. Ick.)
Squirrel...the other red meat....
RATS ARE PEOPLE TOO!
G.Gordon Liddy, in his book “Will” describes how he got over his childhood aversion to rats by killing and roasting one outdoors, then eating it. His mother was less than thrilled. Liddy never again feared rats.
I’ve eaten squirrel that my son cooked up. It was good.
The humans have a choice in the matter. Including the audience, which arguably suffers more than the participants.
The difference is in the manner of killing. I haven't seen the video of the rat-killing, but if it was a clean, quick kill, the animal welfare folks are just grandstanding. If the animal was essentially tortured to death, even if it's a rat, the producers should have stepped in to stop it.
If this logic is followed, then every cooking show that prepares meat is guilty of the same crime.
I guess those guys were supposed to buy their rat shrink-wrapped at the local market. Or Maybe just pick up some frozen rat nuggets.
So now it’s a crime to eat food. mmm,mmm,mmm
French eat rats all the time.
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