Bold: 50-year old man caught on camera trying to ‘body slam’ an Orca in New Zealand has been fined $600 for allegedly putting the killer whale in ‘danger’

Last February, A 50-year old man was caught on video jumping off a “pleasure boat” in New Zealand, attempting to “body slam” a killer whale. 

The footage sparked an uproar on social media after New Zealand’s Department of Conservation posted it on their Instagram account and now, the man has been fined $600 for his actions. 

50-year old man attempts to ‘body slam‘ an Orca in New Zealand

A 50-year-old man has been caught on camera jumping off a pleasure boat to try and "body slam" an orca in New Zealand.

The man has been fined $600 (£288) as a consequence of his actions off the coast of Devonport, Auckland, in February.

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— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 22, 2024

“This is stupid behaviour and demonstrates a shocking disregard for the welfare of the orca,” he said, explaining how the incident could have resulted in the “startled whale being injured, or the man responsible being harmed by the aggravated animal.”

Officer Loper added that the incident was 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.” [SKY]

Now wait a damn minute…

You’re going to fine this dude $600 for attempting to wrestle an orca?

Hell, I would have paid him double the amount just to watch him do it. 

Is the welfare of a killer whale really in jeopardy here? I don’t think so. How about the brave soul that decided to jump into the water and wrestle the whale?

He seems like the one who should be in danger, right? 

Get me on the defense team and I’ll have this fine removed immediately.

I’m no animal expert by any means but thinking that a killer whale was going to be in danger from some drunk guy on a “pleasure boat” attempting to body slam it seems like a bit of a reach.

Any questions on why that whale was swimming so close to their boat? Was the whale talking shit before this dude had to take matters into his own hands and try to wrestle it? 

Are we going to talk about the fact that boats and orcas have continuously made headlines lately, with the killer whales attacking vessels in numerous incidents?

Note: The most recent occurrence involved a pod of orcas sinking a yacht this month near the Strait of Gibraltar. According to reports, last summer was completely out of control with attacks happening on a DAILY BASIS. Sailors reported that their ships had been targeted twice or even thrice by furious orca pods in the same day.

Point Being: The world’s oceans have become battlegrounds for a fierce and unprecedented conflict between humans and orcas

So yeah, I think there’s a lot of questions unanswered as to why orcas, some of which weigh more than 13,000 pounds, are trying to flex their muscles in the oceans by antagonizing boats.

It appears Officer Loper, along with the internet, simply jumped to conclusions on this one and criticized the guy trying restore law and order to the ocean. Immediately breaking out the “environmental protection” excuse and issuing a $600 fine seems a bit foolish, no? 

This man is a hero and honestly, if more people settled whatever qualms they had with other humans or in this case, other mammals on the high seas, we would all be better off.

That’s just the law of the ocean, baby.

Next time make sure you’re in international waters and then maybe you can settle your dispute “Man vs Orca” without the internet and local government officials trying to shame you. 

Join The Chase 

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