Animal cruelty is not okay.
On 7 June, @adminsgfollowsall reposted an Instagram video of a boy stepping on two stingrays.
It isn’t immediately obvious at the start because the marine animals are roughly the size of his slippers, but there’s undeniably something wet and odd underneath his soles.
The person filming the video demands, “What the f**k you doing, cb?”
All the while, the boy is scuffing and pushing around the stingray under his right foot, while most of his weight is solidly crushing down the left and smaller stingray.
So small, that you wouldn’t have noticed its presence until the offending foot was shifted away.
When the cameraperson tells him to let go (twice), the boy in blue slippers moves out of the way at last, revealing two abused stingrays.
If you peer closely at the image, you can see the greyish dust marks left behind by his slippers.
Judging from its round shape and the yellow spotted patterns that are ringed by darker colours against a brownish-beige shagreen (skin), it is highly likely that the animals are motoro stingrays.
And upon comparing their size to the boy’s foot, it’s highly probable that these stingrays are mere juveniles, as adults can grow up to one-metre in diameter in the wild.
From… how squashed the stingrays were, in addition to how they’re outside of their natural habitat, it’s more likely than not that they’re dead.
Why do people do this? Like, what benefits do you get out of this act of cruelty, besides blood and slime on your feet?
National Parks Board is Investigating
Unless you’re blind, it’s obvious that this is a cut-and-dry case of animal abuse.
The Group Director of the Animal & Ventertinary Services (AVS), which is an agency under the National Parks Board (NParks), issued a public statement on 13 June, stating that this case is currently under investigation for alleged animal cruelty.
In response to a query made by Stomp, Jessica Kwok said that the AVS were concerned when they were alerted to the alleged case of animal cruelty.
She added that ensuring the well-being of animals is a “shared social responsibility” by AVS and members of the public.
It’s unclear when this profanity-ridden video was taken, who the boy is, what relation the cameraperson bears to the abuser due to his casual and conversational tone, or where this incident occurred.
As such, Ms Kwok appeals to the members of the public to step forward if they have any information related to the case by either contacting AVS through their website at http://www.avs.gov.sg/feedback or calling their Animal Response Centre at 1800-476-1600.
She promises that any informant or persons able to provide photographic and/or videographic evidence will be kept strictly confidential, and stresses that all forms are critical to the progress of the investigation.
Lastly, she reminds the public of the lawful consequences of animal cruelty.
“Under the Animals and Bird Act, individuals found guilty of animal cruelty may be liable to a fine of up to $15,000 and/or imprisoned for up to 18 months.”
Kill Count of Eleven Motoro Stingrays
Let it be known that there are netizens with the potential to be private investigators out there, because some of them noticed that the boy’s feet or footwear looked oddly familiar.
It’s kind of weird that they can spot similarities, but let’s leave foot fetishes aside for now, okay?
After @adminsgfollowsall reposted the video, some Instagram users wasted no time tagging the boy’s real Instagram handle in the video’s comment section.
Finding the boy’s social media account made everything worse though.
Because in his description bio, he proudly displays his motoro kill count like it’s an achievement in a game after killing NPC mobs.
Apparently, he has killed 11 motoro stingrays, and that’s just the deliberate cruelty he admits to, sickeningly enough.
I don’t want to think the worst of people, but if he’s capable of doing such things to helpless marine animals on land, are there other victims that he hasn’t admitted to?
The owner of the Instagram account has since taken that part of his bio down after being exposed, and states that he has a total of three Instagram accounts.
Using what is supposedly his main account, he denies being the abuser, and claims that he’s the person taking the video instead.
Regardless of whether you’re the abuser or the cameraperson, it doesn’t spare you from being complicit in the crime, for being a bystander and not preventing the abuse when you could.
Rather, the fact that the cameraperson zoomed in on the abused stingrays after chiding the boy, without reporting the incident or doing anything to help the stingrays, doesn’t paint him in a positive light either.
Another piece of information that was revealed, upon tracking his main Instagram account, is that the accomplice/abuser is currently a Secondary School student.
Not that the boy’s stature, voice, or irresponsible and callous attitude didn’t give it away, but still.
If the perpetrator ends up being caught, it’s likely that he’ll be spared from a harsher sentence since he’s a minor at the time of committing the offence.
It doesn’t change how horrid or disgusting the nature of his actions were though.
Featured Images: Instagram (@adminsgfollowsall)