Tickling a stingray: Viral video sparks debate about animal cruelty

A viral video of a man ‘tickling a stingray’ has sparked a debate on social media platforms to decide on whether it was an act of fun or animal cruelty.

The video uploaded by a TikTok user has amused many netizens as many of them liked and shared, however, the animal lovers have found it cruel as they thought the fish was suffocating and suffering just for being filmed.

It showed a man along with a stingray lying on its back on a boat while the man appears to tickle its underbelly and said, “How do you tickle a fish?”.

The stingray was seen closing its pectoral fins and opening its snout in reaction to the touch.

In another video by the same user, a stingray was lying reversed on a white cloth when he tickles its gill slits to which the fish reacted by opening its snout wide and moving its fins.

People on the boat were also heard laughing after resembling the fish’s snout opening a smile. The video has garnered over 47 million views amid the divided opinions of social media users.