Radio Presenter Should Be Charged For Beating Animal To Death, Says PETA

27 May 2015

Group Believes Bludgeoning Baby Rabbit to Death With Bicycle Pump Violates Danish Animal-Welfare Laws

Copenhagen – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is pressing for cruelty-to-animals charges to be brought against Radio24syv presenter Asger Juhl, who beat 9-week-old Alan the rabbit to death with a bicycle pump live on the air.

In a letter PETA sent to Jens Henrik Højbjerg, the group states that his “sickening behaviour” should “not go unpunished”. The rabbit was killed during a show about attitudes towards animal welfare. Juhl struck the baby animal three times with a bicycle pump, and Alan was reported to have “twitched several times” before dying.

PETA believes that Juhl’s callous actions were in breach of Denmark’s Animal Protection Act, which, translated into English, states that “[a]nimals should be treated properly and protected as much as possible from pain, suffering, fear, permanent disability and major inconvenience”. A breach of this act can result in fines, a ban on keeping animals and imprisonment.

“PETA is asking all the listeners who are rightly upset by the death of Alan the rabbit to also consider the millions of other intelligent and sensitive animals just like Alan who are denied everything that’s natural and important to them and are killed by having their throats slit or in other equally terrifying ways”, says PETA Director Mimi Bekhechi. “The qualities of animals’ cooked flesh are no justification for their miserable lives and frightening deaths. We all have the power to end their suffering by making the simple choice not to eat them.”

The full letter to National Police Commissioner Jens Henrik Højbjerg of the Copenhagen police can be seen here.

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