I’m a Celebrity Rat, protect me.
During ITV’s annual production of I’m a Celebrity, Get me out of Here, a reality show involving a dozen celebrities, or former celebrities looking to reinvent their careers, an incident occurred which has now resulted in two of the celebrities, Stuart and Gino, being prosecuted by the Australian RSPCA for cruelty to a rat! It appears ITV may also be prosecuted.
I am staunch supporter of anti cruelty campaigns and my thoughts and comments on whether an act of cruelty against a rat took place is for the time being on hold. What I do find astonishing is that given the Australian response to the killing of a rat, how is it that they allow the programme to be made in the first place.
How many creatures are needlessly slaughtered during this show in the name of entertainment. Some may say they are only cockroaches, mealworms and spiders so it doesn’t matter, that is not the point, how many larger creatures were killed or maimed to provide a few minutes of hell to the unfortunate celebrity taking part in a bush tucker trial? Crocodiles, Possums, Kangaroos and not forgetting the obvious distress caused to the horses we saw some of the jungle guests arriving on.
The Australian RSPCA needs to get its act together. If you are going to allege cruelty to a rat you need to look at the whole series and ban the involvement of using any living thing.