Gruesome Killing of Animals Isn’t Entertainment

After my weeks in Australia, as a vegetarian and a contestant on CBS’ 2001 series “Survivor: the Australian Outback,” I have begun to think of “reality television” as more than just entertainment or exciting adventure.

I realize now that some of the participants aren’t volunteers: The animals do not choose to be actors in these games and stunts. They are used.

Too often, TV producers have harmed animals in the name of ratings. This must be stopped, by legislation ultimately, but also by audience boycott. We shouldn’t watch programs in which animals are abused and killed.

In the first two “Survivor” series, rats, rays, eels and a chicken were killed and eaten. One contestant viciously stabbed a pig, leading to an international outcry and the introduction of stronger animal protection legislation in Australia.

More recently, on PBS’ “Frontier House,” in which three families pretended they were living in 1883 Montana, participants chopped the heads off chickens and shot a pig that had become a family pet.

None of these killings were necessary.

The people who appeared on the shows were pretending to be dependent on the animals to survive. But they and we know that modern cuisine and medical care were just a phone call away.

Taking a life in a gruesome and cruel way for entertainment and not for survival seems simply prehistoric.

The eating of the animals is more of a way to get contestants and viewers to squirm than to serve a real purpose. In NBC’s “Fear Factor,” contestants ate sheep eyes in a barn amid live sheep. Most people were repulsed by the cruelty of this challenge.

It’s about time those who run these so-called reality shows develop consciences.

The film industry already is moving away from exploitation. Wolfgang Petersen, the director of the movie “The Perfect Storm,” banned real animals from his set. With a script that called for the capture and gutting of numerous swordfish and even a shark, the film could have been bloody. But Petersen used modern-day movie magic to create a cruelty-free movie.

“I’m an animal rights person, and I didn’t want to have one real fish killed for this movie,” Petersen said.

With a little creativity, good programming can be achieved without animals suffering. Animatronic animals, including bats, snakes and dogs, have been used on shows as diverse as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “ER” and “The Drew Carey Show.”

Programs that continue to abuse animals should know that compassionate viewers won’t keep watching.

*

Kimmi Kappenberg, a television producer in Ronkonkoma, N.Y., , is a member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.