{"id":119757,"date":"2025-09-07T01:00:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T01:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/119757\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T01:00:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T01:00:11","slug":"wildlife-influencer-sparks-outrage-after-crocodile-stunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/119757\/","title":{"rendered":"Wildlife Influencer Sparks Outrage After Crocodile Stunt"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">American influencer Mike Holston\u2014known online as \u201cThe Real Tarzann\u201d\u2014has sparked outrage after posting a video of himself getting bitten by a crocodile in Queensland, Australia. The viral video, which racked up over 800,000 views within a day, shows Holston chasing and wrestling a freshwater crocodile in what he calls \u201ccroc territory.\u201d The clip then shows blood gushing from the influencer\u2019s arm as he holds the crocodile. \u201cHe got a good piece of my arm,\u201d Holston says, showing off the injury. The<a onclick=\"_sendArticleBodyInlineLinkClickAnalytics(&#039;https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DONUpHGEeuR\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&amp;igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==&#039;)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DONUpHGEeuR\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&amp;igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DONUpHGEeuR\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&amp;igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\"> Community Representation of Crocodiles<\/a> released a statement deeming Holston\u2019s behavior reckless and illegal. \u201cWe\u2019ve had many people reach out about this video. It has been reported to the Queensland Government many times,\u201d the statement says. The<a onclick=\"_sendArticleBodyInlineLinkClickAnalytics(&#039;https:\/\/www.legislation.qld.gov.au\/view\/html\/inforce\/current\/act-1992-020&#039;)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legislation.qld.gov.au\/view\/html\/inforce\/current\/act-1992-020\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.legislation.qld.gov.au\/view\/html\/inforce\/current\/act-1992-020\"> Nature Conservation Act 1992<\/a> lists freshwater crocodiles as a vulnerable species, and it is an offense to take or kill crocodiles in the northeastern Australian state. \u201cIn a depraved attempt to boost his platform, Holston uses animals as props for content, regularly provoking them and engaging them in reckless, hazardous stunts,\u201d wrote <a onclick=\"_sendArticleBodyInlineLinkClickAnalytics(&#039;https:\/\/www.peta.org\/news\/the-wyld-jungle\/&#039;)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.peta.org\/news\/the-wyld-jungle\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.peta.org\/news\/the-wyld-jungle\/\">People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)<\/a> in a 2024 article responding to what it described as an \u201cunlicensed roadside zoo\u201d operated by Holston in Temecula, California. \u201cSince I was a kid, I wanted to come to Australia,\u201d Holston proclaims in the viral crocodile video. Earlier this year, another American influencer, Sam Jones, faced calls for deportation from Australia after she posted a video of herself <a onclick=\"_sendArticleBodyInlineLinkClickAnalytics(&#039;https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/influencer-hit-with-backlash-for-stealing-baby-wombat\/&#039;)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/influencer-hit-with-backlash-for-stealing-baby-wombat\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/influencer-hit-with-backlash-for-stealing-baby-wombat\/\">stealing a baby wombat from its mother<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"read-it-at-btn\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-15069525\/realtarzann-mike-holston-crocodile-queensland.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Read it at Daily Mail<\/a><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"American influencer Mike Holston\u2014known online as \u201cThe Real Tarzann\u201d\u2014has sparked outrage after posting a video of himself getting&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[428,29846,57170,5017,90,57171,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":{"0":"post-119757","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-crocodile","10":"tag-influencer","11":"tag-queensland","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-the-real-tarzann","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom","17":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}