An American tourist in Australia has been criticized for cruelly capturing protected species for his personal brand. The content creator, who calls himself 'The Real Tarzann', hunts and captures powerful wild animals to create viral videos for his TikTok account.
“Mike Holston is under fire for two videos posted online for his millions of followers: one in which he wrestles a freshwater crocodile, and another in which he handles a saltwater crocodile, one of the deadliest creatures on the planet,” the BBC reported.
Holston has excused his behavior by calling it “educational”; However, he has no formal veterinary training and experts have condemned the illegal behavior in the videos. “A second video shows Mr Holston heading into the swamp area to capture a young saltwater crocodile. The animal is usually one of the most aggressive reptiles in the world and is largely limp as he holds it by the neck and lifts it for the camera,” the BBC reported.
He explained that he always dreamed of coming to Australia to wrestle these animals; However, personal desires count for little when faced with thousands of dollars in animal cruelty fines.
“Officials in Queensland say the influencer's actions, which could carry fines of up to A$37,500 (£18,300, $24,776), are 'extremely dangerous and illegal',” the BBC said.
If Holston were to be injured or killed by one of these deadly apex predators, there could be dire consequences. Wild animals that attack humans, usually because they are provoked by those same humans, are often euthanized to prevent further attacks. These wild creatures pay the ultimate price so that tourists can take a good selfie or, knowingly or unknowingly, wander freely into forbidden areas.
In the US, more than 300 million tourists visit national parks every year. These are areas that our own tax dollars preserve and protect so that we can leave cities and suburbs to interact with nature in meaningful ways.
However, these wild areas are not petting zoos. Dangerous predators have hunted these areas for thousands of years, and getting too close to them can be fatal and jeopardize the safety of everyone around you.
“Let's be clear: people should not attempt to catch freshwater or saltwater crocodiles in Queensland unless they are trained and licensed,” Queensland's Environment Department told the BBC.
Animal lovers and educators widely condemned the influencer's behavior. The father of Steve Irwin – the beloved Australian zookeeper and conservationist known as 'The Crocodile Hunter' – addressed the issue, claiming Irwin would never have wanted untrained social media influencers to imitate his son's life's work.
“This is not a Steve Irwin issue. This is about an individual illegally interfering with protected wildlife,” Bob Irwin said in the BBC report. “Anyone who really knows how to handle crocodiles knows that they don't respond well to being captured. It's a specialized skill to do this without causing dangerous stress and lactic acid build-up – and this guy clearly had no idea.”
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