A disturbing video has emerged of a teenage boy repeatedly punching and kicking a live octopus on a Bay of Plenty beach whilst his friends film and encourage him.
The Ministry for Primary Industries is investigating the ordeal after an animal welfare organisation made a complaint after viewing the violent video.
In the almost 30-second video clip, the teen can be seen kicking the octopus off the rocks while his mates tell him to “punch him” and “get him”.
He hits the octopus eight times on the head and kicks it around before others tell him “don’t let him go”.
The clip was shared on the NZ Squid Fishing Community Facebook page, with one person saying, “Not much upsets me but this made me a mixture of sad and furious.
Another commenter posted “The bro has some issues that even an octopus can’t fix.”
The original user who posted the video to social media said he shared it to expose the disgusting behaviour.
“I’ve gotten lots and lots of messages from people who are angry at him,” he said.
“They saw that and were disgusted by it and blocked him now.”
Animal charity SAFE’s chief executive Debra Aston called the attack “violent and disturbing on an innocent sea animal”.
She laid a formal complaint with MPI who passed it on to their investigation teams.
Photo Credit: Stuff
