British adventurer Edward Michael Grylls, aka Bear Grylls, is recently under the wrath of animal cruelty activists as news broke out that pigs were shipped to an island so the contestants on his show, "The Island with Bear Grylls," can kill them for entertainment.

A lot of viewers were left upset by a scene in Channel 4's survival skills reality television show, which showed a sleeping pig captured and slaughtered on camera. It was the third pig that has been killed on the show in just two weeks. In a previous episode, two piglets fell ill and the contestants decided to kill them for food. 

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Channel 4 recently admitted that the producers of the show intentionally captured and put the animals on the island, so they can be hunted and killed by the contestants.

Campaigners for animal rights claim that pigs do not fear humans, which is why they stay where they are and do not run even when threatened.

The UK animal welfare charity, Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, accused Grylls' show of slaughtering pigs for entertainment.

A representative for the charity said that they oppose practices that cause suffering, pain and death to animals for the sake of entertainment. Declaring the act as unacceptable, the spokesman added that there is simply no excuse "for using animals in stunts that carry a high risk of them being harmed." 

Animal rights organization, PETA, also weighed in on the controversy and slammed the killing of animals as a "cheap ratings ploy." It added that it sends a destructive message to young viewers, who are easily influenced by everything on television and wants the producers, as well as the host, Bear Grylls, to be prosecuted.

Aside from the pigs, contestants mistook an endangered American crocodile for a common caiman and killed it.

A representative for Channel 4 defended the contestants and explained that they are especially trained in humanely capturing and dispatching animals. The rep continued and said that they "needed to eat or risk being unable to continue."

TagsBear Grylls, The Island, The Island with Bear Grylls, animal rights, PETA, RSPCA, animal cruelty on tv, killing animals for entertainment