TV reality show cast in trouble for catching and eating otter in Altai

The cast of The Last Hero TV reality show that is filmed in Russia's Altai and airs on the TV3 channel, butchered and ate an otter. The episode was aired, and the participants spoke about it.

The Office of the Public Prosecutor of the Altai region evinced interest in the incident. Law-enforcers will check the show for illegal hunting, since catching the otter is allowed only during a certain period of the year in spring and autumn. It is forbidden to hunt for the otter by trapping the animal.

The episode with the otter being eaten by the show cast was aired on July 20. Show participant Pavel Yarygin said that he went fishing and heard an animal howl. After fishing, he saw another participant on the river bank — neurosurgeon Adam Tsarikaev.

"He's cutting up something there,” Yarygin said.

Then they showed the butchered otter itself. Tsarikaev brought the animal's carcass to his partners in the show and offered them to eat it. Other cast members thanked Tsarikaev for the catch, but the actual process of eating the otter was not shown.

"I've seen this done many, many times to large animals, such as sheep,” he said.

On Wednesday, the prosecutor's office of the Altai Republic, where the show is filmed, reported that the environmental prosecutor's office had launched an investigation into the information disseminated in mass media about show participants hunting for fur-bearing animals by participants in a TV show."