Charged with animal cruelty for killing rat to eat

Jbabe writes: Two men have been charged after cooking a rat and serving it with rice as a meal for fellow contestants on a reality TV show. D'Acampo, 33, and Manning, 30, were confronted by RSPCA...they were both charged with animal cruelty offences and ordered to appear in court on February 3...If found guilty, the pair face up to three years in jail...Broadcasts of the program in Britain, could also face charges. RSPCA NSW chief inspector David O'Shannessy said it was unacceptable for the rat to have been killed for a TV show. "The concern is this was done purely for the cameras. The show's producers were ordered by the RSPCA to hand over footage showing how the rat, which was believed to be tame, was killed.... But D'Acampo and Manning had been filmed telling contestants how they had caught the rat in the bush before the chef killed it with his kitchen knife and skinned it. "It was the best recipe I ever did," he said afterwards.