Today on Good Morning Britain, Richard Madeley ate some squirrel live on air – and happy Bank Holiday Monday to you!
The broadcaster, 67, was co-hosting the show with Kate Garraway, 56, and the two were debating squirrel burgers.
Richard described the dish as smelling ‘pungent’ after being provided with it for a debate between a farmer selling the item and a Peta representative who believed it was cruel.
In the interest of experimenting, Richard gently removed the salad on top of his prepared burger, which was made up of 80% squirrel and 20% pig for fat – with three squirrels needed per burger.
The announcer, who previously expressed his opinions on Britney Spears‘ pole dancing, chewed for a moment before remarking, ‘It tastes not resemble a chicken burger, honestly.’
Kate had previously expressed reservations about sampling the burger due to her affection for Beatrix Potter’s mascot, Squirrel Nutkin.
The meat patty was cooked by the show’s guest, Gareth Wynn Jones, a farmer and influencer who wants to sell squirrel burgers made entirely of grey squirrels at his pop-up restaurant Cwtch Kitchen during the Welsh Game Fair on September 9 and 10.
Peta’s representative blasted Gareth for claiming the species needed to be culled, explaining: ‘There is a humane solution to every perceived problem, in this instance there’s vaccinations for red squirrels, there’s actually oral contraceptives, there’s habitat modification.’
‘You can do other than frying them up, is what she’s saying,’ chimed in Kate.
However, Gareth was having none of it, as he called it ‘the biggest joke I’ve ever heard’.
‘We’ve got to protect our red squirrels, they’re beautiful, they’re in danger.’
He added: ‘Don’t mislead people into saying we’re just blasting them out of the trees, they’re being caught in traps – but we have to take them out of that equation if we want to protect. They’re carrying a pox, the greys, which are killing the red [squirrels].’
The farmer also claimed that grey squirrels are ‘killing songbirds’ and ‘chewing saplings’ in forests.
Grey squirrels are native to North America, and their introduction to the United Kingdom has had a significant influence on the country’s native red squirrel population.
According to the Woodland Trust, grey squirrels compete with red squirrels for food and also carry the squirrelpox virus, which they are immune to but kills red squirrels.
Red squirrel populations are only found in areas where grey squirrels are few or non-existent.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1.
Source My Celebrity Life.
