A Chinese influencer who livestreamed herself eating what appears to be an endangered shark is being investigated by police after a social media uproar.
Tizi - a food vlogger on China's Douyin and Kuaishou live-streaming platforms - is believed to have chowed down on a 50kg protected young great white and shared a clip of the meal with her millions of fans.
After a social media backlash, the offending clip and all other previous posts were removed from her account.
In the video, Tizi eats the roasted tail of what viewers claimed is the endangered fish covered in pepper with her hands.
"This is so yummy!" she adds after biting into the beast.
She cut the rest of the animal up and boiled it with spices, the video shows.
A watermark on the video claims the creature was "edible" and "bred in captivity" - but social media users have questioned the authenticity of the label.
News of the police investigation came after viewers called for a probe into her "disgusting" behaviour.
One Weibo user said: “I’ve seen her videos before. They were outrageous. She also ate a crocodile and a golden giant salamander … It was extremely disturbing.”
"She literally eats anything to grab eyeballs. I was horrified when seeing her eat a crocodile tail once,” another added.
According to the South China Morning Post, Tizi attracted fame due to her "sweet look" and "bold food choices".
The young woman has shared clips of herself chomping rarely-eaten animals like crocodiles and ostriches garnished with spices and cooking oil.
She claims to have bought the fish "legally" and announced she has sought legal representation.
"These people were talking nonsense", she told local Sichuan site Red Star News last Thursday.
Another Chinese food vlogger named Zou was arrested last year after posting a clip showing him eating a giant triton snail - another protected animal.
It comes after it emerged that sharks are facing an obesity crisis as the deadly beasts have become larger and fatter than ever.
And not only that, sharks are even ganging up to feed rather than being in competition with each other.
But it’s thought years of campaigns to protect endangered shark species - as well as some of their food sources - has helped the mega-sharks get even bigger, as they can feed more easily.
One of the species seeing the biggest size boom is the tiger sharks.
Traditionally the biggest were thought to measure about 12ft long.
But marine biologist Kori Burkhardt discovered a 16-footer in the waters of French Polynesia, where the sharks have had extra protection since 2006.
Kori says: “When we first met Kamakai it was really unexpected. I’ve been diving with tiger sharks in multiple countries and she’s by far the biggest I’ve ever seen.
"It’s not just her length but her width as well.
"She can be five metres long but she’s three metres (9ft) wide, including her fins. That’s insane.”
