Great white shark. Photo: VCG

A food vlogger from Nanchong city in Southwest China's Sichuan Province was fined 125,000 yuan ($18,431) in January for cooking and eating a protected shark, the local market watchdog announced on its official WeChat on Saturday. 

The online influencer surnamed Jin, known as Tizi on social media, bought the shark at the price of 7,700 yuan online on April 13, 2022. She cooked and ate the shark and posed for photographs with the boiled shark on May 29 and June 2. 

On July 12, 2022, she uploaded the video of the shark being boiled and barbecued onto popular video platforms Kuaishou and Douyin. The video quickly trended on social media platforms the following two days. 

Her stunt triggered outrage among Chinese netizens with many criticizing the vlogger for seeking attention via illegally consuming protected species. Netizens also called for better protection of wild animals. 

Based on the identification of the DNA from the tissue samples, the South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences believes that the shark that Jin ate was a great white shark, an endangered species on China's National List of Protected Wild Animals. 

Jin was given administrative punishment for violating the Wildlife Protection Law by the local market watchdog in Nanchong. The salesperson of the shark surnamed Shen and the fisherman surnamed Yan have been arrested by the local police in Zhangzhou city in East China's Fujian Province. 

China passed the draft revision to the Wildlife Protection Law on January 4 and the amended law will be enacted on May 1 this year. The amended law will increase penalties for related violations including hunting, trading and transporting terrestrial wild animals that grow and reproduce naturally in the wild environment for the purpose of food. 

Global Times