{"id":204844,"date":"2025-09-06T11:24:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T11:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/204844\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T11:24:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T11:24:13","slug":"video-allegedly-showing-man-trying-to-catch-freshwater-crocodile-prompts-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/204844\/","title":{"rendered":"Video allegedly showing man trying to catch freshwater crocodile prompts investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Queensland’s environment department has confirmed it is investigating a video which allegedly shows an influencer trying to catch a freshwater crocodile.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The video was posted to Instagram on Friday by American wildlife influencer Mike Holston, who goes by “therealtarzann” online.<\/p>\n

Tagged as “Lockhart River, Cape York” in the state’s far north, it has since amassed more than a million likes and 22 million views, while sparking backlash from some.<\/p>\n

\"croc1\"<\/p>\n

Mr Holston’s video was posted on Friday. (Supplied: therealtarzann)<\/p>\n

The video appears to show Mr Holston jumping out of a boat in shallow water to run towards a crocodile.<\/p>\n

The footage shows the crocodile trying to swim away, before Mr Holston appears to leap on it and pick it up.<\/p>\n

Another man who appears to be holding the camera can be heard saying, “Oh, it’s got him”.<\/p>\n

Mr Holston can be heard responding: “I got a hold of him”.<\/p>\n

Another crocodile appears to be in the water nearby, and Mr Holston’s arm appears to be bleeding in the footage.<\/p>\n

He can be heard saying “this is what dreams are made of” while holding the crocodile, before the footage appears to show him dropping the animal, which quickly swims away.<\/p>\n

Mr Holston has been contacted for comment. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"croc<\/p>\n

The crocodile which appears in the vision. (Supplied: therealtarzann)<\/p>\n

‘Extremely dangerous’ to interfere<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Department of Enviroment said it was a “significant offence to interfere with freshwater crocodiles in Queensland, not to mention extremely dangerous”.<\/p>\n

Mr Holston’s video has sparked some backlash online and has also been criticised by the Queensland Conservation Council.<\/p>\n

Anger over ‘reckless’ croc interactions<\/a><\/p>\n

A popular croc-spotting site in Far North Queensland will be monitored after multiple reports of illegal interactions with the reptiles.<\/p>\n

Director Dave Copeman said laws were in place which made it illegal for people to interfere with animals for their own, and the animals’, protection.<\/p>\n

Mr Copeman said that, in order to discourage copycats, people should face significant fines if found guilty of interacting with animals.<\/p>\n

“It’s fine to go as a tourist and to enjoy going and seeing them, appreciating them in their natural habitat,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Copeman said he was concerned about potential kneejerk responses to negative interactions between crocodiles and humans such as calls to cull them.<\/p>\n

“Crocodiles and humans can live side by side as long as there’s a little bit of common sense,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

he said.\"crocodile<\/p>\n

An influencer was charged after feeding this large saltwater crocodile locals have named Clyde in Far North Queensland last year. (ABC Far North: Brendan Mounter)<\/p>\n

The Queensland Department of Environment website states that an on-the-spot fine of more than $2,500 can be imposed on someone caught interfering with a crocodile.<\/p>\n

Under state legislation, anyone found to be feeding or deliberately disturbing crocodiles could be fined more than $26,000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queensland’s environment department has confirmed it is investigating a video which allegedly shows an influencer trying to catch…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":204845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[112963,4740,5212,75622,112965,112964,563,112961,50,4797,4798,112960,345,112962],"class_list":{"0":"post-204844","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-american-influencer","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-backlash","11":"tag-crocodile","12":"tag-dave-copeman","13":"tag-freshwater-crocodile","14":"tag-instagram","15":"tag-mike-holston","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-qld","18":"tag-queensland","19":"tag-queensland-environment-department","20":"tag-social-media","21":"tag-therealtarzann"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115157104411580104","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}