Online content creators who engage in “reckless stunts” with crocodiles should have so-called “dickhead legislation” thrown at them, and international influencers that do so in Australia should be “booted out the door”, Bob Irwin says.

The father of the late “Crocodile Hunter”, Steve Irwin, and lifelong crocodile advocate issued the rare statement after Queensland authorities confirmed they were investigating US influencer Mike Holston – who goes by the online moniker “The Real Tarzann” – for wrestling with wild crocodiles.

Irwin said he and colleagues gave the colourful nickname to the legislation – brought in to Queensland last year in an effort to crack down on dangerous crocodile interactions – after becoming increasingly concerned by “a runaway train” of online content “encouraging and glorifying harmful wildlife interactions”.

“And that’s because that’s exactly what content creators like the Real Tarzann are in my books – dickheads,” Irwin said. “Because anyone who harms wildlife for fun, is.”

Environmental legal advocates backed Irwin’s criticism, saying wildlife protection laws needed widespread reform for the digital age and that influencers who post videos of themselves handling native animals should face aggravated offences to combat the “Steve Irwin factor gone wrong”.

Animal rights organisations also said Holston should be deported for two posts in which he jumps on top of and restrains a freshwater and a juvenile saltwater crocodile.

The Queensland environment department issued a statement on Tuesday which said it was “actively investigating two videos circulating on social media”, which Holston has indicated were shot in Cape York.

The statement said the maximum penalty for interfering with a saltwater crocodile is $37,500, with an on-the-spot fine of $8,345.

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“These actions are extremely dangerous and illegal, and we are actively exploring strong compliance action including fines to deter any person from this type of behaviour,” the statement said.

But Irwin said it was past time regulators enforced stricter laws against feeding and interfering with crocodiles Queensland enacted last September and “throw the book at these people”.

“The repeated line from our regulators [of] ‘we are investigating’ in response to these incidents is wearing thin,” he said.

“The message is only going to sink in when we see these so-called influencers held to account and understand that 15 million followers don’t make you exempt from the laws that protect our wildlife.

“It’s disappointing to understand that not one person has been prosecuted in Queensland since the new legislation was introduced.”

Crocodile advocate, Amanda French, pointed out that just weeks after Queensland’s new laws came into force, a Western Australian influencer filmed herself throwing a cooked chicken to a four-metre saltwater crocodile called Clyde. In July a Canadian influencer filmed himself wrangling a freshwater crocodile. The department said it could not pursue the first case for lack of evidence and was investigating the second.

“Freshies”, as they are known in north Queensland, are smaller and generally less aggressive and dangerous than their “saltie” cousins, which are the largest reptiles and one of the most dangerous creatures on Earth. Handling both species in the wild is illegal without proper authorisation and permits due to their protected status and the high risk of injury to both the animal and the handler.

French said a roughly $8,000-on-the-spot fine was an increase on previous reported statements and would hurt “a guy fishing in the wrong spot” but said it might not be enough to deter popular influencers.

“That’s a walk in the park for someone like that who is prepared to fly out to Australia, get as much content travelling around as he can and put it out on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube,” she said.

French began working at Australia Zoo to organise its Steve Irwin Day after the death of the beloved croc wrangler in 2006 and went on to co-found the Community Representation of Crocodiles group. She wrote a book – The Last Crocodile Hunter – with Bob Irwin, with whom she remains “really close”.

French said she and Irwin feared they were witnessing the Crocodile Hunter’s legacy gone awry.

“[Steve Irwin] was the original influencer, there’s no doubt about that,” she said. “But there was no social media back then, there was no ability for people to go, ‘Hey, I’m going to go and do that, and monetise my account, and get that dramatic footage and I’ll be rewarded’.”

Holston has spoken about being inspired by Irwin, and French said social media feeds were thick with would-be influencers handling wildlife in what many claim are “educational” videos.

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“That is not education,” French said. “It is glorifying illegal, harmful activity to our wildlife. “And the difference is: Steve Irwin had a permit.”

Such permits, she said, were hard to get and came with strict oversight.

French said wildlife protection laws must “get with the times” to deter this unintended “copycat effect”.

Among those long championing reform is Kirstiana Ward, who leads the early legal intervention team at the Environmental Defenders Office in Cairns.

Ward began advocating for strengthened laws to crack down on social media videos of wildlife interactions in earnest in early 2023 when a man was filmed stripping down to his budgie smugglers and entering a river known and signed as crocodile habitat in north Queensland with his rottweiler for a swim. The dog was attacked and killed within seconds by a 4.2-metre croc, which authorities later shot dead.

She had sought for last year’s crocodile interaction reforms to include “post and boast” laws.

Ward said she was conducting a review on wildlife protection laws across all jurisdictions in Australia. “We’re just seeing these laws being flouted across the country,” she said.

“We are now seeing deliberate interactions with crocodiles … but we’re seeing it with wombats, the Canadians and Americans, people coming over here and interfering with our wildlife and getting glorification and fame across the world because of their social media presence.

“It is such a big story now – it is a global story and it is an ongoing story.”

Ward describes the Holston videos as “absolutely abhorrent”, noting that the crocodiles, which were smaller than him, were “terrified”.

Peta Australia’s senior campaigns adviser, Mimi Bekhechi, said the videos were “incredibly cruel”, as crocodiles and all Australian wildlife “deserve to live in peace without fear that visiting influencers will tackle and roughly handle them”.

“Peta is calling on authorities to follow the investigation through to the end, and for Mike Holston to be punished to the full extent of the law, including being deported and banned from entering Australia again,” Bekhechi said.

Holston was contacted for comment.