Japanese Game Shows Taunt and Torture Animals for Fun

by Stephanie Feldstein · 2010-07-13 05:59:00 UTC
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Japanese game shows are known for being bizarre. In addition to the overall odd challenges, many of them rely on slapstick comedy, putting their contestants through various physical punishments to get a laugh from the audience. But the people who compete on these shows choose, for whatever reason, to subject themselves to all the pain, stress and humiliation that comes with it. When animals are involved, they don't get to make that decision.

The latest clip making the YouTube rounds is a contest where people pile food on top of animals. I've known people who have taught their dog to sit still and balance a biscuit on his nose for a second. But that's a little different than making your dog sit still while you mound 32 strips of Spam on his snout and nose or lay on his back while you stay 300 biscuits all over his body.

There's also a monkey who has a fort of bananas built around him; it's hard to say whether it's the temptation of the fruit or the claustrophobia of his 800-banana fort that makes the monkey start to look and sound so miserable.

While I'm pretty sure the animals who are supposed to navigate a racecourse without knocking over dominoes, on another game show, would rather be anywhere else than in front of a studio audience, it doesn't seem to be a particularly abusive scenario, although some of the animals do seem a bit stressed out. It is, however, a perfect example of absurd animal exploitation.

Then there's the one where four guys pass animals mouth-to-mouth. It's clear from the contestants' reactions that it's not the most pleasant experience to have a live crab, lizard, turtle, frog, crayfish or goldfish in their mouths. I imagine it's far less pleasant for the animals (especially the fish, who must have been suffocating the entire time).

Animals are used to entertain humans around the world, and often in deadly ways — just look at last week's Calgary Stampede or the Running of the Bulls. The animals seem to survive their ordeal on Japanese game shows (at least the ones that I've seen), but is enlisting them in our strange and stressful, if not painful, notions of entertainment the best we can do for a laugh?

Photo credit: YouTube

Stephanie Feldstein is a Change.org Editor who has been part of the animal welfare and rescue community for over a decade, and most recently worked for an environmental organization.
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