Winterwatch’s Chris Packham has slammed The Chase’s Anne Hegerty, Shaun Wallace and Mark Labbett for swimming with dolphins in their new show.
The quizmaster trio are seen travelling across the world in The Chasers Road Trip: Trains, Brains and Automobiles, looking into intelligence in the natural and technological world.
However, the latest episode caused backlash when they were seen heading to the Dolphin Research Centre in Florida, and swimming with the highly intelligent animals, who are being held in captivity.
Now, nature-loving Chris said he was disappointed in the production team for not thinking the segment through.
He told The Mirror: ‘It’s probably not at the forefront of their thinking that, that sort of thing might be seen as unacceptable.
‘So I suppose if there’s any disappointment, it would come from the production companies because they should be on top of this and making sure that their presenters, their contributors are made aware of those issues, and then they’ve got a choice.
‘The production companies are putting it out and they shouldn’t be asking their participants to do things which are going to get them into trouble, whether it’s speeding, you know, anything, which is now totally socially unacceptable.’
Following the scenes airing, the RSPCA also called out the show.
‘Swimming with dolphins may seem appealing to holidaymakers but we know that in reality they often have restricted space and can find swimming with people all day very stressful,’ they said.
‘Keeping dolphins and whales captive deprives them of some of the most basic freedoms and causes them unacceptable levels of stress and suffering.
‘Captivity cannot provide for their needs and they can live shortened lives.’
Metro.co.uk has contacted ITV for further comment.
The Chasers Road Trip: Trains, Brains and Automobiles airs Thursdays at 9pm on ITV.
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