Just because you can be eaten and regurgitated by a 30-foot snake, does that mean you should? That鈥檚 what animal rights activists are asking the Discovery Channel and naturalist filmmaker Paul Rosolie.
The controversy erupted on Thursday after Discovery released a preview video for , a one-off show that follows Rosolie as he dons a snake-proof suit covered in pig鈥檚 blood and voyages with a camera into the belly of a wild anaconda. The preview video quickly went viral and was immediately met with, ahem, a venomous response from 聽and a petition on 聽calling for Discovery to pull the programming. More than 11,000 people have put their signatures on the entreaty so far.
Critics of the stunt argue that a human鈥檚 shoulder width is too wide to fit the anaconda鈥檚 body, which could cause the animal physical and emotional pain. They also claim that regurgitating undigested food is harmful to the well-being of the snake since it will use up the animal鈥檚 precious digestive acids. 鈥淎nacondas go days without eating and expend the energy needed to do so selectively,鈥 Delcianna Winders, PETA鈥檚 deputy general counsel, told the , 鈥淢aking this snake use up energy by swallowing this fool and possibly regurgitating him would have left the poor animal exhausted.鈥
The preview video doesn鈥檛 include any clips from inside the snake, but the adventurer was reportedly dislodged from the creature鈥檚 stomach using a pull cord.
A Discovery representative told the AP that the snake is 鈥渁live and well.鈥
On his , Rosolie wrote, 鈥淚n the days leading up to Eaten Alive on Discovery Channel, I understand that many people have questions.聽All I can tell you is that all my work is based around the fact that wildlife and ecosystems today, across the globe, are at a critical moment. No group more than apex predators.鈥 He suggested that people thinking he鈥檇 ever hurt an animal should read his 聽about his experiences in the Amazon.