Logan Paul condemned for Tasering dead rats in new YouTube video

Footage could 'desensitise' young people to cruelty to animals, warns Peta

YouTube star Logan Paul is facing fresh criticism after posting a video of himself shooting dead rats with a stun gun.

It comes after the video blogger was roundly condemned for making a video featuring a dead man’s body.

In a section of a video posted on Monday titled “get these rats”, Mr Paul and two of his friends find the carcasses of two rats on a porch.

Mr Paul then fires a Taser at the remains, saying: “Die” and “get them”, as his two friends scream and ask: “Why?”

“No rat comes into my house without getting tased,” he says, adding: ”Okay, so the rats are definitely dead.”

After throwing the rats in a bin outside, Mr Paul fires his stun gun into the bin, saying: “I hate rats.”

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), the world’s largest animal rights charity, said the video was repulsive and called for its removal.

A Peta Twitter account posted a clip of the video, with the words: “Yo, Logan Paul: death isn’t funny. Exploiting dead bodies for views is disturbing.”

Spokesperson Lisa Lange told celebrity news website TMZ: “This sort of content has no place on YouTube or anywhere else, as it could desensitise young people to cruelty to animals,”

The Independent has contacted YouTube and Mr Paul for comment.

The 22-year-old YouTuber took a three-week break from the platform earlier this year after he was roundly condemned in January for a video shot in Aokigahara — a Japanese woodland also known as the “suicide forest”.

Footage, which has since been deleted, showed Mr Paul discovering the corpse of a man thought to have killed himself in the forest.

The vlogger was then filmed standing next to the body while making jokes and laughing.

Mr Paul is one of the most popular YouTubers. His channel has more than 16 million subscribers.

Mr Paul has since issued two apologies for the incident and released a seven-minute video entitled “Suicide: Be Here Tomorrow”, in which he learns about suicide.

In the video, Mr Paul said his “ignorance on the subject” was “part of the problem” and pledged $1m (£722,560​) to “various suicide organisations”.