Discovery’s ‘Eaten Alive’ Was ‘Inexcusable Torment’ for Anaconda, PETA Says

Meanwhile, viewers thought it was inexcusable that the 2-hour special did not deliver on the title’s promise

Eaten Alive

PETA is outraged over the Discovery Channel’s Sunday night special “Eaten Alive,” which also outraged viewers when no human being was actually eaten by the end of its 2-hour running time.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is mostly angry that the snake was captured for a “publicity stunt” — an act the group described as “inexcusable torment” for a wild animal — but also expressed frustration that the snake didn’t eat.

“Under natural conditions, anacondas go weeks and even months between meals, eating only when necessary for survival and expending the tremendous amount of energy required to attack, constrict and consume large prey only when the payoff outweighs the risk,” a PETA spokesperson told TheWrap. “Paul Rosolie and his crew put this snake through undeniable stress and robbed her of essential bodily resources. She was forced to constrict and then not allowed to eat.”

Rosolie, who was pretending to be a pig, tapped out of the stunt after losing feeling in his arm. He believed the limb was at its breaking point. Although the network specified that the snake is fine, PETA blasted its decision to trapping the creature, and forcing it to use “precious energy reserves.”

Here’s the full statement:

Despite protests by conservationists, biologists, herpetologists, and decent people everywhere who oppose the abuse of wildlife, the Discovery Channel aired the inexcusable torment of a captured wild green anaconda and several other snakes. The animals were removed from their water habitat and transported to a filming location, and the chosen snake was deceived into using her precious energy reserves to constrict a human being pretending to be a pig, all for a publicity stunt.

Under natural conditions, anacondas go weeks and even months between meals, eating only when necessary for survival and expending the tremendous amount of energy required to attack, constrict, and consume large prey only when the payoff outweighs the risk. Paul Rosolie and his crew put this snake through undeniable stress and robbed her of essential bodily resources. She was forced to constrict and then not allowed to eat.

Study after study has shown that entertainment features such as this one that show humans interfering with and handling wild animals aredetrimental to species conservation. Rosolie knows this. Discovery knows this. Yet they chose to contrive and air this shameful stunt for ratings anyway.

Comments