Man who swallowed live frog and lizard given community service

A man who swallowed a frog and a lizard as part of an online drinking game has been told to pay £1,200. The animals were swallowed by Sheldon Jeans on February 3 this year as part of the Neknomination game. In the 90-second clip he posted on Facebook, Jeans put first the frog and then the lizard into glasses of water and swallowed them while they were still clearly moving.



Jeans was also seen drinking a glass with crickets in it before he swallowed the frog and lizard. He was stripped to the waist and wearing a ‘scouser’ wig and moustache. The prosecution was brought to court by the RSPCA as the incident was in breach of Section 4 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

RSPCA inspector Alan Browning said: "Unfortunately this isn’t the first case we’ve had involving Neknomination, but it is the first to come to court that involved animals other than fish. The two small animals would have suffered considerably during this incident, going through the distress of being swallowed and coming into contact with stomach acids. We hope this sick game is now on the decline as it is just not acceptable to subject animals to this sort of ordeal."



Jeans, of Cowplain, Hampshire, told Portsmouth magistrates he had regurgitated the animals afterwards but there is no evidence of this or that they survived. The 23-year-old was ordered to do 80 hours of unpaid work after admitting causing unnecessary suffering to a frog and a lizard by swallowing them. He was told to pay £1,200 in costs. The court case did not refer to the crickets as they are not covered under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The law covers animals with backbones, but not invertebrates such as insects and octopus.

Includes video of the incident.