A Chinese influencer has been placed under police investigation after a clip of her roasting and eating a great white shark went viral.
The vlogger - who goes by the online handle Tizi on Douyin and Kuaishou - was seen on China’s two major live-streaming platforms in a video of her eating the predatory fish, which police confirmed was a great white shark.
"It may look vicious, but its meat is truly very tender," Tizi said while yanking off large pieces of the fish's cooked meat, in a video posted on July 14, The Guardian reports.
In the now-deleted video, she is seen placing the 2-meter-long fish on the ground and lying down next to it. The shark is then cut in half, marinated, and barbecued, while the head is boiled in a spicy broth.
Great white sharks are documented as a vulnerable species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and are one step away from being classified as endangered.
The population of the these predators has been imperiled over the past few decades, especially by finning and industrial longline fishing.
They are listed as "protected" in China and having illegal possession of them can lead to a five to 10-year prison term. However, it is unclear whether Tizi, who has almost eight million followers, will be punished yet.
The South China Morning Post reported that Tizi quickly grew her social media platform - having almost 8 million followers - due to her "sweet look" and "bold food choices".
The influencer has previously shared other videos of herself eating unfamiliar animals, including crocodiles and ostriches cooked in spices.
After being seized by police, Tizi denied she was feasting on the endangered species after some viewers commented that it looked like a great white shark.
Per The Guardian, Tizi said that she acquired the shark through "legal channels" and refuses to give any further comments without a lawyer. She also claimed that viewers of her video are "talking nonsense."
However, the local agriculture bureau said on Monday (August 1) that her claim was "inconsistent with the facts" and that police will continue investigating.
If Tizi is found guilty, she will face up to five years in prison or criminal detention, and a fine for illegally purchasing rare and endangered wildlife products, News.com.au reported.
China is increasingly looking at ways to stop the unlawful trade of animals for food and medicine in the wake of the Covid pandemic.
A statement on the country's state-run news site, The Paper, wrote about how complicated it would have been to haul a two-meter shark from the coast to Nanchong, some 1100 miles (1770 km) away.
"We must harshly crack down on the illegal hunting and trade of endangered wildlife and eliminate the criminal chain," they said.
