(Sydney, Australia) The British broadcaster ITV pleaded guilty to animal cruelty for the killing, cooking (popular recipe) and eating a rat on a television show. As a consequence, Magistrate Mark Buscombe fined ITV $2,600 plus $2,500 in court costs.
Also as a result, the RSPCA committed to dropping the case against Gino D'Acampo and Stuart Manning.
The rat reportedly took more than a minute to die while on camera.
Cruelty to Rats
[Previous 12/7/09 post]
(New South Wales, Australia) Two television personalities, Gino D'Acampo and Stuart Manning, each face a possible three years in prison for capturing, killing and cooking a rat. The men were arrested after serving the cooked rat with rice to contestants on a television game show.
D'Acampo, 33, and Manning, 30, are charged with animal cruelty.
RSPCA NSW chief inspector David O'Shannessy said it was unacceptable for the rat to have been killed for a TV show.Strangely, it appears that had the rat been killed and cooked away from any cameras, no animal cruelty would exist. It doesn't make a lick of sense to me. Presumably, I could sit in a shack, kill and cook rats, day in and day out, and there would be no cruelty because no camera was present. But, as soon as someone walks in with a camera, I would be accused of cruelty. Cruelty is defined by the camera. It's not based on how the animal was treated.
He said there was a "code of practice" dictating how animals could be used in theatrical productions and films.
"The killing of a rat for a performance is not acceptable," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"The concern is this was done purely for the cameras.
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