A Cambodian couple is in legal hot water for sharing YouTube videos in which wife Ah Lin Tuch can be seen skinning and eating endangered and protected animals.
Lin Tuch and her husband, Phoun Raty, operate the Natural Life TV channel, on which the self-proclaimed “survivalist” has consumed an endangered fishing cat and several protected species of birds — as well as a king cobra, sharks, stingrays, and frogs, Metro reports. After viewers noted that several of the animals were protected, the channel was reported to authorities, and the couple were ultimately tracked down by the Cambodian Ministry Of Environment. While Lin Tuch has been arrested, according to Metro, the couple have offered a public apology for destroying local wildlife.
“We are now in the process of taking legal action against them,” Chea Sam Arng, head of the Ministry’s general directorate for administration of nature conservation and protection, said in a statement, per Metro. “The animals that were cooked were mostly not on the endangered list, but are protected. Only one species [the fishing cat] was in danger of extinction.”
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The couple claim that they did not kill the animals themselves but bought them from a local market — a point that authorities are currently investigating as they prepare their prosecution.
The couple has scrubbed their channel of the videos in question, though several other clips remain. Natural Live TV has amassed 31,000 subscribers and 4 million lifetime views, and the couple claims to have earned $500 in YouTube ad revenues. Oddly enough, this isn’t the first time in recent months that an animal vlogger has been in trouble with the law. YouTube Snake handler Brandon Boyles was charged with 23 counts of illegal possession of venomous snakes — as well as animal cruelty and reckless endangerment — in March.
