- The New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC) announced on May 21 that a man had been fined for attempting to body strike a whale
- The incident that happened at the beginning of this year was recorded and published on social networks
- Officials learned of the dangerous encounter after someone reported the video to DOC on social media
A New Zealander has been fined after trying to jump on a wild killer whale.
A video of the incident involving a 50-year-old man was posted on Instagram in February. A member of the public saw the video and reported it to New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DOC), according to a statement from the agency.
In the video, filmed in the waters off Devonport, Auckland, New Zealand, a man standing on the edge of a boat with an orca swimming beside him jumps off the vessel and appears to be trying to land on a nearby whale. After jumping out of the boat, the man yells, “I touched her,” referring to one of the orcas, then asks the others on the boat, “Did you get it?” Other people can be heard cheering and laughing throughout the video.
DOC shared the video on its Facebook page on May 21, noting that the footage shows “what appears to be a deliberate attempt to touch or ‘body slam’ the orca.” The agency added that the man in the video was “slapped with $600” for his actions.
“The incident showed a shocking and stupid attitude towards protected marine mammals,” the social media post continued, adding: “The man showed a reckless disregard for his own safety – and the safety of an adult male orca with a calf that was swimming near the ship.”
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Hayden Loper, the DOC’s chief investigator, said in a DOC statement that we were “truly appalled” by the video and that the perpetrator was “extremely irresponsible.”
“As in the first attempt to dive on the animal, the human remains in the water and then swims back towards it in the second attempt to touch it,” Loper said. “This is stupid behavior and shows a shocking disregard for the welfare of the orca.”
Photo of a killer whale.
Getty
The official also noted that the man’s actions “could have ended horribly — either an injured whale or an injured human responsible for it.”
According to Guardthe orcas involved escaped without injury.
Regardless, the man’s decision to approach the whales was “a clear violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act,” according to Loper, which resulted in the fine.
New Zealand’s Marine Mammal Protection Act prohibits harassing, disturbing or swimming with any marine mammal.
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In its release, DOC encouraged the public to report behavior it believes violates wildlife protection.
“This is the third case in the past few years where social media content has led to a successful prosecution for DOC and we greatly appreciate the tips we receive from the public,” Loper said.
DOC noted that there are an estimated 150 to 200 killer whales in New Zealand waters and that interactions with people and ships can have a large, negative impact on the country’s killer whale population.
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“Interaction with pods can disrupt their natural behaviors such as resting, feeding and socializing, which can have a long-term impact on survival and breeding success, while repeated disturbance can cause animals to avoid an area,” said DOC technical adviser Hannah Hendriks. for The. Guard.
“Specifically, disturbing a pod with a calf runs the risk of separating the calf from the rest of the pod … it can end up with the calf starving, stranding and eventually dying.”
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Source: HIS Education