Sir David Attenborough has slammed Bear Grylls for "willingly killing an animal for a shot."
The ‘Blue Planet’ narrator has hit out at the 43-year-old adventurer for filming the gruesome slaughter of animals for his survival shows – including ‘Celebrity Island’, ‘Mission Survive’ and ‘The Island’ – as he’s adamant him and his camera team would never put a creature’s life at risk just to get a good clip to boost viewing figures.
Speaking to The Sun Online, the 91-year-old naturalist said: "We’ve never killed an animal. Bear Grylls will have to answer for himself. But I wouldn’t willingly kill an animal for a shot."
And David isn’t the only celebrity to hit out at Bear – whose real name is Edward Grylls – as Chris Packham has slammed his shows for being "nothing more than a shabby circus."
The 56-year-old presenter exclusively told BANG Showbiz recently: "I’d 100 per cent turn down ‘I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!’ or ‘Bear Grylls’ because those animals are being used for nothing but entertainment. It’s nothing more than a shabby circus, it’s frankly disgusting. If Bear Grylls went to the Chinese Highlands, they wouldn’t be killing and eating a panda, would they? So, again, they’re reinforcing stereotypes about important species of animals that play important roles in our eco-systems. I’m afraid to say I find them [those shows] absolutely abhorrent. They reproduce all that I stand against."
Iwan Thomas and Ryan Thomas hit the headlines last year when they murdered a baby caiman crocodile on ‘Celebrity Island’ because they hadn’t eaten any grub for eight days.
Former ‘Made in Chelsea’ star Lucy Watson – who is a vegan and animal rights activist – took to her Twitter account at the time to slam the celebrities for killing the croc.
She said: "Getting excited about killing a frightened animal on a tv show does not make you brave or strong. It makes you cruel. (sic)"
The show, which sees a group of celebrities dropped on an island and told to fend for themselves, has also been slammed by animal rights organisation PETA.
Elisa Allen, Director PETA UK, told The Sun newspaper: "Caimans are shy animals, and this one was a baby. They’re not a threat to humans, so taking a life for the shock value is shameful and cowardly and shows that the only real predators on this programme are the miserable celebrities and producers."
Sir David Attenborough slams Bear Grylls for killing animal
