Video: Protesters Confront Bear Grylls Over Cruelty to Animals

PETA U.K. Supporters Interrupt Presentation to Protest Animal Slaughter on the U.K.’s The Island

For Immediate Release:
June 5, 2015

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Survivalist Bear Grylls‘ NBC series The Island debuted just last week—but similar to the original British series, contestants have already been filmed hacking apart an animal. That’s why today, as Grylls gave a talk in London, a trio of PETA U.K. supporters ran onstage, one after the other, to let the startled audience know that the British version of The Island recently shipped a pig to Panama specifically to have contestants slit the animal’s throat. On a previous episode, contestants tracked down and killed an American crocodile. And last week on NBC’s The Island, contestants skinned, skewered, and cooked a snake. Video footage of the protest is available here.

“There’s nothing entertaining or excusable about slitting animals’ throats or hacking apart their bodies on camera,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on NBC to put a stop to these gruesome displays and make sure that no more animals suffer and die for ‘entertainment.’”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that had the pig-killing incident taken place in the U.K., the contestants could have faced charges and, potentially, time in prison. PETA also notes that torturing and killing animals is a cruel way to attempt to boost ratings and sends an especially harmful message to young viewers, who are greatly influenced by what they see on TV.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.