A Chinese vlogger who ate a huge white shark is being investigated.

A Chinese influencer is being investigated by police after a video showing her cooking and eating a great white shark went viral.

The vlogger, known online as Tizi, was filmed dining on the predatory fish, which police in the central city of Nanchong verified Sunday was a great white.

“It may look vicious, but its meat is genuinely incredibly tender,” Tizi stated in a video posted in mid-July, while tearing off enormous portions of the animal’s roasted meat.

She is shown in the video, which has since been deleted, unwrapping a two-meter-long fish and lying down next to it to demonstrate that it is taller than she is.After that, the shark is chopped in half, marinated, and barbecued, while the head is cooked in a spicy stew.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature has identified great white sharks as a vulnerable species, one step away from being classified as endangered. Shark populations – some of the oceans’ most critical apex predators — have been decimated in recent decades, with the major culprits being finning and industrial longline fishing.

They are classified as endangered in China. Illegal possession can result in a five-to-ten-year jail sentence. “It’s mind-boggling that an internet celebrity can devour a protected animal in broad daylight in front of millions!” exclaimed one commentator in response to the report.

“These uneducated attention-seekers will sink very low to catch eyeballs!” exclaimed another.It is unknown whether Tizi, who has nearly eight million followers, will face any consequences.

She informed local media that she got the shark through “legitimate means,” but the local agriculture bureau said Monday that her story was “inconsistent with the facts” and that police were looking into it.

Dried baby shark flesh is used as cat food in China and may be purchased from a variety of internet retailers.Chinese official media has long fought a battle on viral binge-eating videos, known as “mukbang” in Korean, while live streaming platforms have long threatened to block accounts that promote excessive eating and food waste.