'Messed-up' act on rural Aussie property captured during livestream
Indigenous elders have slammed the video as 'pure disrespect'.
A “shocking” act live-streamed from a rural Aussie property has left a group of young TikTok users horrified.
For over five minutes a man wearing a large black cowboy hat and a nose ring laughs hysterically as his dogs rip into a small kangaroo joey that had unwittingly hopped into his yard.
Watching the the live-stream from another location, a blonde-haired woman cradles her face in shock as two dogs pull at the animal like they’re in a tug-of-war. “Help it. Help the kangaroo,” she cries.
But instead of helping the animal, the man gets serious and tells her to “shoosh”. “We live out here on a farm brother, kick back,” he says before half-heartedly telling his dog to “get away from it”.
Cowboy hat man responds to kangaroo video uproar
Another woman who watched the TikTok Live and asked not to be identified told Yahoo News she was "completely shocked" the stream was allowed to continue for so long.
"The Live [video] just kept going until he was finally banned. It was heartbreaking to watch and I was absolutely stunned it was happening for those 10 mins. I think everyone who watched couldn’t believe what was happening," she said.
Following the publication of this article the man in the cowboy hat responded to Yahoo's request for an interview with a one line response, "Yous are all taking it out of proportion mate".
Further comment is being sought.
TikTok Live of kangaroo continues despite backlash
In the video, as the dogs continue to attack, the man turns his camera on the joey which is lying on its side bleeding heavily. A woman picks it up by the tail and its head smashes repeatedly against the ground as a dog continues to bite it. She then takes it to her couch and its head falls back.
“That’s sad man… you just destroyed a kangaroo,” another TikTok user says during the stream. Many of the comments backed him up, with one calling the kangaroo’s treatment “messed up”.
“Everyone go report him right now, that’s disgusting,” another urged.
Despite many TikTok users claiming to have followed her direction, the video continued for over 10 minutes before it was finally stopped. And the account that streamed the dog attack remains on the platform.
After the blonde TikTok user asked him to imagine the trauma the kangaroo went through, the man in the cowboy hat scoffs at her. “Listen to this thing, Marilyn Monroe, my God… if it comes up on the verandah what do you expect?” he says.
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Indigenous elders slam man's treatment of kangaroo
As negative comments continued, the man justified the confronting scene by claiming to be Indigenous.
“We eat roo tail around here ... I’m Aboriginal cuz, this is what we eat, bruh.”
However two Indigenous elders from northern NSW who hunt kangaroo and have knowledge of its cultural significance were horrified by the man’s actions. The two men, who asked not to be named were particularly alarmed by his laughter during the attack on the joey.
“The old people didn’t just go out there and kill animals. Our meat was seasonal and when they killed an animal they cried over it,” one of the elders told Yahoo News.
“What you’re doing is taking one of the lives of the ancient souls. That’s real. We believe when new animals are born they’re reincarnations, cuz… We respect death. We respect the animals."
They other elder said there are a series of protocols that must be adhered to before a kangaroo is eaten.
“We value our totemic species better than that. Kangaroos are a high value totemic species,”
“There’s actually protocols attached to eating it – killing it, carrying back to the fire and cutting it up properly. We’re not stone-age people but we have protocols in place.”
Continuing to reflect on the video he said; “That is just pure disrespect."
TikTok told Yahoo News the man who broadcast the event had his account suspended for seven days.
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