A man has been fined after video captured him jumping into the water close to an orca that was swimming with a calf off the coast of New Zealand.
The clip, shared to Instagram in February, shows the man jumping from a boat off Devonport, Auckland, as his friends laugh and cheer.
He appears to deliberately belly flop into the water where an orca and a calf are swimming just below the surface.
At one point he shouts “I touched it” to other people on the boat, before asking “did you get it?”, apparently keen to know if he had been captured on video.
“Yes, we got it! We got it!” they respond.
“The video left us genuinely stunned,” said Hayden Loper, principal investigation officer at the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC).
“As well as the initial attempt to dive onto the animal, the man stays in the water and then swims toward it again in a second attempt to touch it.
“This is stupid behaviour and demonstrates a shocking disregard for the welfare of the orca. It is extremely irresponsible.
“Orca are immensely powerful animals, and this really could have ended horribly - with either the startled whale being injured, or the man responsible being harmed by the aggravated animal.”
On the weekend the video was captured, the DOC and Harbour Master had reportedly received calls from members of public concerned about how close people were getting to orcas.
The DOC was later tipped off about the video by a member of the public.
The man, a 50-year-old from Auckland, has now been find $600 - equivalent to around £290.
“It’s a very clear breach of the Marine Mammals Protection Act,” said Mr Loper. “Orca are classified as whales under conservation legislation and it is illegal to swim with whales, or disturb or harass any marine mammal.”
Orca, also known as killer whales, are an apex predator.
DOC marine science staff highlighted recent incidents off the coast of Spain, in which orca have sunk several small vessels, and warned any sudden moves near orca significantly risk the chance of people being harmed.
There are estimated to be between 150 and 200 orca living in the waters of New Zealand.
Mr Hayden urged New Zealand social media users to continue alerting the DOC to content they believe breaches legislation protecting New Zealand wildlife.
“This is the third case in recent years in which social media content has led to a successful prosecution for DOC and we greatly appreciate the tip-offs we get from the public,” he said.
