Reptile & Amphibian Forums

BAKERSFIELD CALIFORNIAN (California) 14 July 07 Kern man eats live snake for 'Survivor' - Tehachapi man's stunt disgusts crowd at tryouts (Lisa Schencker)
A 48-year-old Tehachapi man skinned and ate a live snake as part of his audition at an open casting call in Bakersfield for "Survivor" Saturday.
The man, who identified himself to a reporter as Rusty Shackelford and by a different name to audition organizers, brought the snake into the audition room at Three-Way Chevrolet in a backpack. (Rusty Shackelford is a common fake name, one used by a cartoon character.) Once cameras started rolling, he pulled the hissing snake from his backpack and held it firmly by its head and lower body.
He then peeled away long sections of the live snake's skin and took several bites out of its exposed flesh. The man then put the snake back in his bag and left the audition.
"Well, they said to go over the top," the man said after the audition. "I was probably as nervous as the snake was.
"I hope they're ready for a real survivor instead of somebody just ready to play games," said the man, who said he's unemployed.
He said eating the live snake was like eating "raw chicken." He said he found the animal, which he said was a rattlesnake, at the side of a road.
Onlookers, who were also there to audition, expressed shock and disgust as they watched him eat the snake through a large window.
Cries of "What!" "Eww," and "Man, that's not cool," filled the room as he started tearing away the snake's skin.
"I can't believe someone would do something like that," said Josie Papik of Pacific Palisades. "You do something like that to survive but not to an animal that can't defend itself."
"I think it's disgusting," said Ruth Anne Phillips of Palmdale. "I think someone should call animal control."
Despite the gore, however, Kern County Sheriff's Department Cmdr. Rosemary Wahl said Saturday evening that what the man did was not actually illegal.
Still, Victoria Kendall, a "Survivor" tryout who said she works for the California Department of Conservation said she was outraged.
"I was absolutely appalled," Kendall said. "I'm furious that poor snake had to be the ticket for that guy to get on 'Survivor,' to be skinned alive and eaten."
Organizers of the event said they were also shocked.
"I didn't think he'd do it," said Three-Way Marketing Manager Michelle Garland. "That's frightening."
Tracy Peoples, director of marketing and promotions for 29 Eyewitness News station, which taped the auditions for CBS, said people say they're going to do all sorts of crazy things for the cameras but rarely do.
"One guy made a joke he was going to eat his dog, but he came and went and nothing happened to his dog," Peoples said.
29 Eyewitness News Production Manager Jeremy Rowell, who was alone with the man in the audition room when he ate the snake, said he was also shocked.
"I totally didn't think he was going to do it," Rowell said. "I thought he would kiss the snake or pet the snake just to show he could handle it."
Peoples said CBS doesn't generally lay out any rules for what people are allowed to do or not allowed to do for their auditions. One man, earlier in the day, she said, ate crickets.
Each auditioner was given two minutes in front of a camera to tell CBS why he or she should be on the next "Survivor," a show in which a group of strangers face challenges in exotic locations and vote one another off the show in hopes of being the last man standing and winning $1 million.
Contestants on the show are often forced to fish, hunt and eat anything they can find -- including bugs and rats -- in order to survive.
Though Bakersfield College student Melvin Villali acknowledged he and other contestants might have to eat unusual, wild animals to survive if picked for the show, he said he believes the man at Saturday's audition went too far.
"He had it by its head and tail and he skinned it from the neck down, and took a bite of the snake," Villali said. "It was inhumane."
Kern man eats live snake for 'Survivor'

BAKERSFIELD CALIFORNIAN (California) 17 July 07 Officials outraged by stunt - Condemnation of man who ate live snake grows (Kevin Gerrity)
A Tehachapi man who recently ate a live snake in an audition for the reality show "Survivor" has triggered outrage among national and Kern County animal rights advocates, but those experts said Tuesday that overall, animals receive much better treatment today than in the past years.
David Price, who heads the Kern County Resource Management Agency, which oversees the animal control division, was repulsed.
"What I think is there was an individual who committed a heinous act of animal cruelty," Price said. "And I think people were horrified."
The 48-year-old man, who used different names to identify himself, had the snake stashed in a backpack as he walked into the audition room at Three-Way Chevrolet, which organized the event.
Calls to Three-Way Chevrolet on Tuesday were not returned.
Then the man, who said the animal was a rattlesnake that he found on the side of a road, pulled the reptile out of his backpack, peeled away long sections of skin and took several bites of the exposed flesh.
Jeremy Rowell, the 29 Eyewitness News production manager who was alone with the man in the audition room, said he was caught off guard when the biting took place.
"I was shocked," Rowell said. "I was definitely shocked."
Dale Bartlett, deputy director of animal rights at the Humane Society of the United States, called the snake-eating stunt in Bakersfield a "horrendous act of barbarism and cruelty."
Even Jenna Morasca, a 2003 "Survivor" show winner, came out in support of the Humane Society and said she was blown away by the incident and hoped that local authorities would investigate the case.
Morasca, who works in New York City for the Internet talk show Survivor Live, said she knew of no other audition in which a person abused an animal.
Bartlett and Morasca want to see the snake-eater prosecuted under California law.
Already, Bakersfield Animal Control officers are investigating the case.
"We're in the middle of investigating that actually," said Animal Control Supervisor Tammy Davis.
Kern County Animal Control Chief Denise Haynes said that what the man did to the rattlesnake was not illegal under California law. It's not a protected species.
On a personal level, Haynes said, the act was "disgusting and an insult to the sensitivities."
Kern County Deputy District Attorney Michael Yraceburn said he could not provide comment on the legality of the incident because no case has been presented.
Yet, as chairman of the Kern County Animal Control Commission, Yraceburn said, "I certainly deplore the abuse of an animal for performing a stunt to get on a TV show."
Despite the incident, Bartlett said, one man's actions should not indict the culture.
Chris Meyers, an ethics professor at Cal State Bakersfield, agreed. He said the treatment of animals is far superior today.
Fifty years ago, Meyers said, animals were seen merely as tools. Now, they are seen "as living beings who experience pleasure and pain."
Meyers said reality shows reflect a degradation in society, but the culture's attitude toward animals has changed by leaps and bounds.
For example, vegetarians are easily accepted for choosing not to eat meat, he said, "while 20 years ago, they were seen as freaks."
Price, of the county resource management agency, said he has seen a big improvement in the treatment of animals, even in the past five years.
He attributed that trend to two causes: new people with different values moving into the county, and an increased education and awareness of animal rights.
Officials outraged by stunt

BAKERSFIELD CALIFORNIAN (California) 04 August 07 Snake-eating stunt not worth prosecuting (Lois Henry)
You can add this to the list of reasons I'm glad I'm not Kern County District Attorney Ed Jagels: Should Brent Scheibel be charged with animal cruelty for skinning and eating a live snake as an audition stunt to get on the "Survivor" television show?
Kern County Animal Control investigated and sent the case to the D.A.'s office asking for charges against Scheibel, who later said he thought the snake was dead -- even though it was clearly wriggling when he chomped into it (see the video on www.bakersfield.com). The D.A.'s office kicked the case back to Animal Control, and Supervisor Tammy Davis said the department wanted to know if it was, for sure, a live rattlesnake at the time of the chomping.
The mid-July stunt evoked strong feelings on both sides.
It was torture!
It was a SNAKE!
But was it a crime?
That's where Jagels gets my sympathies.
California Penal Code 597(c) couldn't be more clear:
"Every person who maliciously and intentionally maims, mutilates, or tortures any mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian or fish is ... guilty ..."
Scheibel definitely had intent; you can't deny he maimed and it was a reptile. Case closed.
Keep reading.
Penal code 599c. says:
"No part of this title shall be construed as interfering with any of the laws of this state known as the 'game laws,' ... nor must this title be construed as interfering with the right to destroy any venomous reptile ... or to interfere with the right to kill all animals used for food ..."
If it was a rattlesnake, it was venomous and, well, he did eat it, so it was an animal used for food. Case not so closed.
Scheibel's attorney, Alan Klein, cited exactly those statutes in any potential defense.
"It was a dumb thing to do, and he agrees it was a dumb thing to do, but it wasn't illegal," Klein said.
I've seen the Scheibel video. It's truly disgusting. And even though it was a snake, it's repulsive that anyone would skin and eat it while it was still living, though Scheibel denies he did that. Klein said Scheibel used a metal rod to kill the snake in his backpack, then went on with the stunt "and he moved it around so it would, you know, look good."
Either way, here's my take: Don't charge him. The law is too murky.
Besides, we've got bigger fish to fry (only after they've been humanely and legally caught and killed, of course).
Animal abuse lurks in nearly every Kern County alleyway and vacant lot where stray animals roam because people don't spay and neuter their animals.
From July 1, 2006, to June 30, 2007, Kern County Animal Control rounded up 14,459 stray or unwanted dogs, 10,460 cats and 250 animals classified as "other," which includes birds, livestock and reptiles. They euthanized about 67 percent of those animals -- 7,839 dogs, 8,730 cats and 174 other animals.
Don't blame Animal Control.
If people took responsibility for their animals and fixed them, this wouldn't happen.
Refusing to do that -- now that's criminal.
I know many animal advocates will say the Scheibel stunt is just as bad.
But what are we going to do? Send in SWAT every time someone baits a hook with a live worm?
We only have so much time, energy and money. Let's spend it attacking, metaphorically speaking, the elephant in the room.
Snake-eating stunt not worth prosecuting