The moment this NZ man spent $600 to make his friends laugh… Screengrab: Department of Conservation
Welp, this one can’t be pawned off on Gen Z and Millennials being eager to do anything for a few likes whenever somebody’s pointing a camera at them. A 50-year-old man in New Zealand is the brand-new recipient of an underwhelming $600 fine after jumping off a boat and onto a baby orca earlier this year. Officials from New Zealand’s Department of Conservation announced the penalty in a statement Tuesday.
In the video, the Auckland man can be seen jumping off a boat like a WWE performer coming off the top rope and onto an Orca calf.
“I touched it,” he yells while the group on the boat have a laugh. “Did you get that?” he asks before swimming back out to touch the adult orca swimming nearby.
The footage was uploaded to social media in February and the department was later notified of the video.
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“The video left us genuinely stunned,” said DOC Principal Investigation Officer Hayden Loper. “This is stupid behavior and demonstrates a shocking disregard for the welfare of the orca. It is extremely irresponsible.
“Orca are immensely powerful animals, and this really could have ended horribly – with either the startled whale being injured, or the man responsible being harmed by the aggravated animal.
“It’s a very clear breach of the Marine Mammals Protection Act. Orca are classified as whales under conservation legislation and it is illegal to swim with whales, or disturb or harass any marine mammal.”
Although there has never been a reported human fatality caused by an interaction with orcas in the wild, reports of the apex predators wrecking boats at sea and other aggressive interactions seem to have increased recently. According to the DOC, staff had been alerted to such reports and pointed out that “any sudden moves near orca significantly risk the chance of people being harmed.”
Nonetheless, the animal is a protected species and any kind of disturbance, including by boats, is considered a threat to them. The department says there are just 150 to 200 individual killer whales in the waters off of New Zealand.
