In the last couple of days, Ricky Gervais has used his Twitter feed to bring to our attention instances of cruelty against beagles, bulls, chimpanzees, and pilot whales.

So what animals are you allowed to kill in bizarre and horrific ways, without risking Ricky plastering your face all over social media, and suggesting people hunt you?

1. Toads

In the first episode of the first series of An Idiot Abroad exec producers Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant pay to have toads pulled from a plastic bag and bashed against a rock so that we can see a look of slight discomfort on Karl Pilkington’s face.



Killing animals in unpleasant ways is unacceptable if it’s for our entertainment, remember, but not if you’re being paid to broadcast that entertainment on Sky 1.


2. Turkeys

Ricky’s often said that his favourite meal is a roast turkey Christmas dinner. Pro tip: the annual slaughter of 800 pilot whales in the Faroe Islands is a ‘tragedy’. the annual slaughter of 17 million turkeys in the UK alone is ‘yummy’.

3. Pigs

What would Christmas dinner be without sausages wrapped in bacon? Not Christmas dinner at Ricky’s house, that’s for sure! ‘There will be little cocktail sausages wrapped in bacon, there’s no doubt about it,’ he told The Guardian. And what could be less cruel-sounding than ‘pigs in blankets’. They have blankets, you monsters!

4. Cows

When was the last time you saw Ricky post a picture from on-set catering of someone tucking into a burger with ‘I hope next time the cow gets you, you lanky b**tard!’ underneath? Never, that’s when…

5. Camels

When you ride a horse until it collapses, you are an inhuman monster, and Ricky hopes that next time the horse rides you. When you do it to a camel in the third episode of the first season of An Idiot Abroad that’s just good telly.

6. Chickens

Ricky has moved to become more vegetarian now, but there was a time when he blogged about eating delicious, delicious chicken. Obviously, the chicken was all organic and free range. Which I’m sure came as a relief to it as it was stunned and had its throat cut.

7. Snakes

Look, we’re not saying that just because Ricky Gervais chose to send Karl Pilkington to patronise snake charmers means that he condones the conditions in which those snakes are kept, but come on, snakes are hardly even animals anyway, are they? They’re just string with attitude. They’re more of a lace than a creature.

So, there you have it, Ricky is a big opponent of animal cruelty in all instances except those instances that are tasty or on a television show he’s making.

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