A woman has been arrested after she filmed herself skinning, cooking and eating endangered animals so that she could earn money on her Youtube page.
A woman identified as Ah Lin Tuch, has been arrested after she filmed herself cooking and eating protected wild animals in Cambodia.
According to Dailymail UK, the mother-of-one and her husband, Phoun Raty, made videos showing her skinning an endangered fishing cat, a large lizard and several protected species of birds to make cash by posting them on YouTube.
Other clips show her eating a king cobra, a shark, a sting ray and frogs after she grilled them on a camp fire and ate them in the jungle near their home in Phnom Penh.
As the video clip emerged online and made rounds on social media, it sparked fury from viewers, who hit out at the would-be survivalist when it emerged that many of her victims belonged to protected species.
The country’s Ministry of Environment launched a manhunt for the couple last Wednesday and the next day they appeared before the public admitting they cooked the animals and apologising for ‘destroying our wildlife’.
Chea Sam Arng, head of the Environment Ministry’s General Directorate for Administration of Nature Conservation and Protection, said: ‘We are now in the process of taking legal action against them while the working group is preparing a report on the matter.
‘The animals that were cooked were mostly not on the endangered list, but are protected. Only one species was in danger of extinction.’
The couple have removed the clips of Ah Lin eating those animals, but still have footage of her tucking into frogs, a cobra, a shark and a sting ray. The couple claimed that they bought the wildlife ‘from a local market’ then cooked it.
Ah Lin said: ‘I don’t even know what kind of animals or birds we used or their impact on wildlife conservation.
‘I bought the wildlife at Preak Phnov and we started filming our videos since December. Now I have already admitted my mistake.’
Ah Lin’s husband, Phoun, said they had intended to make a living from their YouTube channel, which had so far earned them $500 for Google sponsored adverts being shown on the clips.
Source: News Agencies
