A vegan influencer has told how he quit his non-meat eating regime and went straight to McDonald’s after a dog bite left him feeling betrayed by the animal kingdom.

Mariano de la Canal, who has more than 455,000 followers on Instagram, told Argentine media that he instantly gave up being a vegan and a short while later he found himself in the burger joint “automatically”.

He reportedly said: “I stopped being a vegan because a dog bit me, so I got angry and said: ‘I’m campaigning for the animals, and then one of them comes and bites me’. That’s when I stopped being a vegan.”

The influencer, who first became famous after appearing on the reality TV show Showmatch as an avid fan of Argentine actress, model and wife of footballer Mauro Icardi, Wanda Nara, added: “The truth is that I campaigned for all that, veganism, vegetarianism, all that. But a dog bit me on the street and I said: ‘Wow, I’m trying a lot for them and one of their pack comes and bites me !’ So no, I went to McDonald’s, automatically.”

Mariano de la Canal made the comments in an interview with Argentine newspaper Infobae.

Showmatch is an Argentine entertainment and dance show in which the audience participates to decide if the participants stay or get the boot.