Animal rights group PETA pay unexpected tribute to bat-biter Ozzy Osbourne
The Black Sabbath rocker, who died aged 76 on Tuesday (22.07.25), notoriously bit the head off of a bat during a concert in Iowa in 1982 but has been remembered fondly by animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals for the "gentle side" he showed to creatures after teaming up with organisation to campaign against the declawing of cats.
PETA posted on its website and social media channels: "Ozzy Osbourne was a legend and a provocateur, but PETA will remember the 'Prince of Darkness' most fondly for the gentle side he showed to animals - most recently cats, by using his fame to decry painful, crippling declawing mutilations.
"Ozzy may have been the singer, but his wife, Sharon, and their daughter, Kelly, were of one voice when it meant protecting animals.
"Ozzy will be missed by animal advocates the world over."
The Crazy Train artist joined forces with PETA in 2020 to speak out on the declawing of felines and featured in an advertising campaign feature his bloodied hands with the tagline: "It's an amputation. Not a manicure."
Ozzy said at the time: "Amputating a cat's toes is twisted and wrong. If your couch is more important to you than your cat's health and happiness, you don't deserve to have an animal! Get cats a scratching post - don't mutilate them for life."
The rocker claimed in his 2010 autobiography I Am Ozzy that he chomped down on the bat's head as he was convinced that it was just a rubber toy throw on stage by a rowdy audience during his Diary of a Madman Tour.
Osbourne wrote: "Immediately, though, something felt wrong. Very wrong. For a start my mouth was instantly full of this warm, gloopy liquid. Then the head in my mouth twitched.
"Somebody threw a bat. I just thought it was a rubber bat. And I picked it up and put it in my mouth. I bit into it.
"Oh no, it's real. It was a real live bat."
However, Ozzy told the BBC in 2006 that the bat wasn't alive when it was thrown on stage.
He recalled: "This bat comes on. I thought it was one of them Halloween joke bats because it had some string around its neck.
"I bite into it, and I look to my left and Sharon was going (gesturing no).
"And I'm like, what you talking about? She (says), 'It's a real dead bat.' And I'm... I know now!"
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