Sydney, Australia (EFE).- The NGO People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) urged Australian authorities on Friday to deport American influencer Mike Holston after images surfaced showing him chasing, jumping on and handling saltwater crocodiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Aside from it being illegal and unfathomably stupid to interfere with a crocodile in Queensland, it\u2019s also incredibly cruel. Just like wombats, koalas and other native Australian wildlife, crocodiles are sensitive individuals who experience pain and stress, and who deserve to live in peace without fear that visiting influencers will tackle and roughly handle them,” said PETA Australia’s senior campaigns advisor, Mimi Bekhechi, in a statement to EFE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bekhechi said Holston, who has some 15.5 million followers on his Instagram account, should be punished “to the fullest extent of the law,” deported and banned from Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We urge stricter penalties and stronger regulations to deter influencers from the exploitative and dangerous use of animals as social media props,” she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The animal rights organization’s response comes as Australian authorities opened an investigation into Holston, who calls himself “The Real Tarzann” on social media, for posting several videos on his Instagram account in which he is seen wrestling with the animals in Queensland, even injuring himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Holston, who has been posting videos in Australia for several months, published footage on Sep. 5, which has already garnered 1.7 million views, in which he approaches a saltwater crocodile and wrestles with it until he manages to grab it and lift it into the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said in one of the videos a week ago that they were for \u201ceducational purposes,\u201d and he doesn\u2019t “encourage anyone to try to recreate” them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the comments, many users criticized the supposed “educational purposes” and accused the influencer of stressing the animals and holding them inappropriately in order to gain more followers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In another video, Holston picks up an echidna from the ground, while the creature defends itself by sticking out its spines and curling into a ball. In others, he is seen handling dead kangaroos, pythons and wallabies after they were hit and killed on roads, picking a big jellyfish out of the water before putting it back, and handling various snakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to public broadcaster ABC, the man could be fined more than AU$24,000 if successfully prosecuted in court, while deportation is a prerogative of the federal government, which has yet to make a decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In March, another US influencer Sam Jones sparked backlash after posting a video on social media in which she snatched a baby wombat from its mother and carried it away to the camera before she put it back. EFE <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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