There’s a lot of debate about what animals we humans can eat and what we can’t eat. However, the general agreement seems to be that if the majority of people don’t agree with consuming an animal, then we shouldn’t.
This is how an influencer in China known as Tizi ended up being fined 125,000 yuan (RM78,950) for buying, cooking and eating a great white shark.
The cooking video
It started when a video of Tizi cooking and eating the killer fish was uploaded onto YouTube in July 2022.
In the video, she and some passersby can be seen admiring the almost 2-metre long fish. Then, she proceeded to cook the shark in a spicy red broth as well as on a charcoal grill.
At the end of the video, Tizi grabs onto the grilled shark tail and tears a piece of meat from it with her teeth as she enjoys the feast with her family.
This video soon went viral, resulting in online backlash about animal cruelty and the launching of an investigation by police in Nanchong, Sichuan.
Breaking the law
According to The National, officials said that she “she broke China’s wildlife protection laws when she purchased the carnivorous fish in April last year and later consumed it.”
It is allegedly that Tizi paid 7,700 yuan (RM4,863) to the seller on Taobao to buy the shark which has been classified as a vulnerable species whose population has declined sharply by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The two people who caught and sold the shark to Tizi were also arrested after DNA tests confirmed that the fish she bought was a white shark, which is protected under Chinese law.
Back in February 2020, China had imposed a total ban on the trade and consumption of wild animals in a bid to stop the coronavirus outbreak.
Watch the full video below:
Good on the Chinese authorities for enforcing laws protecting endangered animals!
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