Chris Packham, 59, has labelled The Chase stars “unacceptable” for swimming with dolphins in their new show, but he does not blame them solely for their actions. The Winterwatch host was left unamused by chaser trio Mark Labbett, Anne Hegerty, and Shaun Wallace, after they visited the Dolphin Research Centre in Florida, as part of their The Chasers Road Trip: Trains, Brains and Automobiles.
Chris said: “I’ve met the Chasers, they’re a really nice bunch of people, but they’re not natural historians.
“And therefore, it’s probably not at the forefront of their thinking that, that sort of thing might be seen as unacceptable.”
The naturalist stressed that it is the responsibility of the ITV production team to be aware of the “issues” around animals in captivity to ensure they don’t “get into trouble”
He added to The Mirror: “The production companies are putting it out and they shouldn’t be asking their participants to do things which are going to get them into trouble, whether it’s speeding, you know, anything, which is now totally socially unacceptable.”
His comments come as The RSPCA and other animal rights groups condemned the move by ITV to allow the stars to swim with the captive mammals.
The show was produced by production company Boundless and aired on ITV1.
Speaking on their disappointment towards the scenes, The RSPCA said: “Swimming with dolphins may seem appealing to holidaymakers, but we know that in reality they often have restricted space and can find swimming with people all day very stressful.”
However, in a statement, ITV defended the segment as an opportunity for The Chase stars to learn more animal intelligence.