Gary Golding, a celebrity survivalist known as the ‘Tarzan of LA [Los Angeles]’ has sparked outrage by butchering, grilling and eating a dead baby dolphin that he found on a beach in California.
The celebrity faced severe criticism by netizens after filming himself kneeling down in the sand before whipping out a hunting knife and carving up the creature.
Golding did the act which sparked outrage while being on Laguna Beach recently when he happened upon the animal carcass. The survivalist has appeared in many episodes of Discovery’s show, however, the recent video starts debate on the internet platforms.
In the video, he can be seen slitting the animal’s stomach open and removing its heart before starting to hack the meat off its sides. Moments later, Golding is shown grilling the meat and some of the organs on a portable barbecue, Dailymail.co.uk reported.
‘Definitely gamey,’ he tells the camera, before dipping a piece of heart in what appears to be mustard and adding: ‘Probably not seasoned the best.’ Rationalizing his behavior, Golding tells viewers: ‘I’m the scavenger from naked and afraid, so I’m going to live up to what I do.
‘I’m going to eat dolphin heart and I guess I’ll eat what you call dolphin backstrap. The thing is, I don’t want to let this go to waste.’
Golding promoted the video on his own Facebook page, writing: ‘I ate a dead baby dolphin. This life I lead is not fake and it’s definitely not scripted. I’m the real deal.’
The footage has divided opinion online, with some promoting it, but others disgusted by Golding’s treatment of the dolphin.
A user finds it ‘very disturbing’, saying that he hoped the celebrity enjoyed the mercury poisoning as well.
‘This looks criminal,’ wrote user Hopeful American.
Meanwhile, a user Sheila Madrak questioned: ‘Does this violate the [marine mammal protection act]?’
MMPA laws
The regulations under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) passed in 1972 makes it illegal for Americans to kill, hunt, injure or harass all marine mammal species – including dolphins.
Section 8 of the Fishermen’s Protective Act, also known as the Pelly Amendment, also prohibits the importation of products from countries violating and fishery conservation program, including hunting endangered species such as dolphin.
However, there appears to be no law against the consumption of dolphin meat – provided the animal was neither hunted in the US, or imported from overseas.
Various environmental groups warn against eating dolphin because of the risk of mercury poisoning. Mercury is ingested in tiny amounts in smaller fish which are then eaten by dolphins, concentrating it to levels that could be harmful to humans.
