Australian officials have initiated an inquiry into American social media influencer, Mike Holston, also known as “The Real Tarzann” after he uploaded videos of himself trapping and wrestling wild crocodiles in Queensland.
Wildlife experts and authorities have strongly criticized the controversial videos that depict him handling freshwater and saltwater crocodiles.
In one of the videos, Holsten leaps into shallow water to hunt a freshwater crocodile that attracts blood and then he catches it.
In the other, he shoots a young saltwater crocodile, one of the most dangerous reptiles on the planet, in the air and picks it up by the neck to get a photo.
“The videos were produced on the basis of educational purposes and afterwards, the animals were set free”, Holston claims.
The Department of Environment Queensland issued a statement that described the actions of extreme danger and illegality, explaining that on-the-spots fines can be issued up to A$8,345, and that penalties can rise up to A$37,500 in the worst-case scenario.
The conduct is also against new laws that seek to avoid risky crocodile behaviors.
The case has elicited an uproar among conservationists including Bob Irwin, the father of the late Steve Irwin, who pointed out that what Holston had done was irresponsible and had little to do with ethical wildlife handling.
“It is not a Steve Irwin problem”, he said. “This is about an individual illegally interfering with protected fauna.”
The videos by Holston show a consistent pattern of a controversial act of foreign influencers in Australia, as there was a case that focused on a woman who went to a baby wombat and snatched her baby away without leaving her mother.
Such acts were previously condemned by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who implied that offenders should also attempt to do the same to animals “which can actually fight back”.