Seriously, Does Bear Grylls have any Ethics?

We already know that the show was originally made in a deceptive way (and now they play a disclaimer before shows air on TV).

Anyone with any actual survival knowledge will tell you not to do any of these things - Staying put is the best way to get found and conserve your energy and resources (unless you are too dumb to tell someone where you are going).

And of course we all know that Bear is known for mowing down on some pretty disgusting eats during his exploits - from insects to animal left-overs and carcasses.

But this season he has crossed the line.

In the Sept 2 episode of Man vs Wild (Texas Desert) Bear is dropped into the Chihuahuan Desert to survive (until his producer lets him know what hotel he's staying in that night...)

In order for Bear to "stay alive" - even though he has support and knows that his producers won't let anything too terrible happen to him (he can't make commercials and sell ads if he's dead) - he decides it is necessary to kill and eat a rattlesnake even after he has discovered edible plants in the same area (where there is one, there are many).

here are some screen grabs of the episode (viewable here)


(the rattle snake he just pulled out of its burrow after keeping it trapped there with his backpack while he went to get a stick)


(those are Bear's fingers in the upper right and the brown thing he is holding is the small boulder he used to crush the snake's head)



Bear Grylls,

As a TV celebrity who makes his living from the outdoors, don't you think it might behoove you to be a bit more considerate? That snake, as you so eloquently put it, was most defensible in its crevasse - where it was hiding from you - and would have simply let you continue on your way without bothering you. Yet you felt that your "surival" situation dictated you should risk your life by removing this creature from its home, killing it, and holding onto it for cooking later - because you obviously were starving.

The small lizard you eat later in the episode, had you really been in a survival situation, do you think that wasting nearly all of the insides (including the water it holds) is such a good idea?

In fact, if you weren't so inclined as to try and scale every damn cliff face you see and rappel into every ravine maybe you wouldn't be so sapped of energy that you would have to eat every moving (or recently stopped moving) creature you discover. Humans can survive for weeks without food - why can't you go a few days?

In conclusion, Bear, why can't you seem to show a little respect for the environments which have given you such a lucrative job and nearly instant fame? To paraphrase Moose Peterson "No TV show is worth sacrificing the welfare of the subject"

Sincerely,

Me.


(and for those of you who are shouting, what about the insects!?!?! read this and follow the references if you must)