An influencer who bragged about feeding a whole roast chicken to a crocodile has been forced to apologize after she was roasted online for the dangerous act.
Jayli Bonow faces more than $26,000 in fines over a now-deleted video in which she claimed to have fed a saltwater crocodile on the banks of the Russell River near Babinda in far north Queensland on Wednesday.
In the 46-second video, Bonow sat on the shore watching the crocodile, known as Clyde to locals, before telling her followers that she “thought it would be a good idea to get a whole chicken and feed it to one of the crocodiles’.
“Look at him, he’s just feeding on that bird and he loves it,” she said.
Bonow preemptively addressed any criticism he hoped the video would attract.
“I know there will be some heroes who will come here and say, ‘You can’t go near the crocodile,'” he said.
“Well, I stayed away and stayed very far away from the banks, so shut your mouth.”
Ms Bonow’s video caught the attention of the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation (DESI), which confirmed the video was under investigation on Friday.
Influencer Jayli Bonow (pictured) has apologized after posting a video of her feeding roast chicken to a crocodile known as ‘Clyde’ to locals in far north Queensland.
Bonow faces more than $26,000 in fines over a now-deleted video (pictured) in which he claimed to have fed a crocodile near Babinda on Wednesday.
“Deliberately feeding crocodiles can pose a great risk to other visitors and increase the chances of an attack,” a DESI spokesperson said.
“That’s why penalties have recently been increased for illegal behavior that puts lives at risk… (and) behavior that portrays, promotes or encourages people to feed them is totally irresponsible.”
In September, the maximum penalty imposed by courts for deliberately feeding or disturbing crocodiles was raised from From $6,452 to $26,615 in Queensland.
Bonow, from Western Australia, replaced his original video with an apology stating that his actions had raised awareness of the issue.
“Yesterday I thought it would be a good idea to feed a saltwater crocodile,” he said Thursday.
‘Now this is stupid in any case for the obvious reasons that it is very dangerous to feed saltwater crocodiles.
“I also didn’t know that feeding crocodiles in Australia is illegal and that’s why I want to raise awareness about the issue.”
She described her decision to feed the crocodile as a “silly mistake.”
“Yesterday I was not very educated and I had no idea that feeding crocodiles was illegal. Now I know that feeding crocodiles is harmful to them and to public safety because it changes the behavior of crocodiles,” he said.
“If I had known yesterday, I wouldn’t have made that silly mistake.”
Bonow, from Western Australia, deleted his original video and replaced it with an apology in which he said his actions raised awareness of the issue on Thursday.
Local Barron River member Craig Crawford said the influencer should use his audience to spread common sense.
“Feeding crocodiles is not only stupid but also illegal and the fines are in the thousands – even pretending to do it sends a stupid message to others,” he said.
‘As residents of the Far North, regardless of people’s opinions on crocodiles, everyone would agree that feeding them changes their behavior and will make them walk closer, stalk the area and wait for humans.
Earlier this year, the Queensland government was forced to issue a warning after video emerged of a large crocodile eating a small shark that died in Rockhampton in February.
Wildlife officer Alexander Peters said he would be “extremely disappointed if people deliberately fed crocodiles to generate likes on social media.”
“Deliberately feeding crocodiles is extremely foolish and dangerous behavior as it can lead the animals to learn to associate people with food,” he said.
‘Previous incidents have shown that when a crocodile has been fed, it begins to approach other people in search of food, or stays in an area where it had previously been fed waiting for an easy meal.
“This can put unsuspecting people at risk and leave the animal vulnerable to being removed from the wild.”
Anyone with information about deliberate feeding of crocodiles can call DESI on 1300 130 372.
