British TV fined for killng rat on reality show

SYDNEY - British commercial broadcaster ITV was fined by an Australian court after it pleaded guilty to animal cruelty over the televised death of a rat, media reports said Monday.

Two contestants in the reality television show “I’m a Celebrity …Get Me Out of Here!” killed and cooked a rat during filming in Australia last year, the Herald Sun reported.

The Sydney court heard a complaint by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) that the rodent took 90 seconds to die after being stabbed with a knife.

Chef Gino D’Acampo and actor Stuart Manning were originally charged with the offence, but the charge was switched to ITV after it admitted responsibility.

ITV was fined 3,000 Australian dollars ($2,580) and ordered to pay court costs of 2,500 Australian dollars.

“The production was unaware that killing a rat could be an offense, criminal or otherwise, in New South Wales and accepts that further inquiries should have been made,” an ITV spokesman was quoted as saying.

When RSPCA levelled the initial complaint, its spokesman David O’Shannesy said the objection was that the rat had been killed for entertainment value.

“The killing of a rat for a performance is not acceptable,” he said at the time. “The concern is, this was done purely for the cameras.”