One of the blokes shown ‘surfing’ a beached turtle in a recent photo that went absolutely viral has responded to the bulk condemnation he’s received.
Ricky Rogers has explained his puzzling actions, and claims the ocean critter was already dead before he hung ten on the Fraser Island shore.
“We pulled over to help it because we thought it was stuck and as we got closer realised it was dead,” the 26-year-old said.
“Not thinking we hopped on it for five seconds and got a quick photo and left.”
Rogers expressed his regret for the dubious shot, and put himself forward as a dead-set animal lover who doesn’t “even let people kill spiders.
“Everyone that knows me knows how much I love animals and know I wouldn’t do anything to hurt (one).”
He also railed against social media for its thirst for justice. Rogers said outlets like Facebook, where the original photo was shared and shamed over 4,000 times, “ruins names over false and misleading information.”
FWIW, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service said fines of up to $20K can be issued to anyone found “interfering with a natural resource.” However, QWPS also reckoned there’s “some evidence” to back up Rogers’ claims the noble beast was already dead.
Not like riding a dearly departed turtle is a stellar idea in the first place, though.
Source: Yahoo!7 News.
Photo: Rickey Rogers / Facebook.
