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A New Zealand man has been fined over a social media video of him trying to “body bump” a killer whale swimming next to his boat in what officials called “stupid” and “extremely irresponsible” behaviour.
In a video the Department of Conservation said was shared on Instagram in February, the 50-year-old Auckland man, who authorities have not named, jumped from the boat into the waters off the coast of the Auckland suburb of Davenport, where an adult male killer whale and a calf were swimming nearby.
The man shouts “I touched it” to the other people on the boat and then asks “Did you get that?” in an apparent reference to whether his encounter with the orca was successfully filmed.
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Then he tries to touch the animal again. Other people aboard the ship can be heard laughing and cheering in the background.
A member of the public alerted the Department of Conservation about the footage, which Chief Investigating Officer Hayden Loper said had left officers “genuinely stunned”.
“This is foolish behavior and shows a shocking disregard for the welfare of the orc. This is extremely irresponsible,” Loper said in a statement on Tuesday.
He added that killer whales, also known as killer whales, are protected in New Zealand and it is illegal to swim with them.
“Orcas are extremely powerful animals and this could have really ended badly – either the startled whale was injured or the person responsible was injured by the aggravated animal.”
The ministry said the man was fined NZ$600 ($554).
“If we continue to behave aggressively or inappropriately around animals, especially animals like great-brained killer whales, they will likely learn to avoid us,” OceanCare Science Director Mark Simmonds told NBC News.
“They might even learn to react in ways we won’t like.”
Killer whales, estimated to number between 150 and 200 in New Zealand, are apex predators that can weigh 12,000 pounds (5,400 kg) or more. The animals, the largest members of the dolphin family, have been in the news in recent months for a series of boat ramming incidents off the Iberian Peninsula.
Experts said the killer whales were most likely acting out of curiosity and playfulness rather than attacking the boats.
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