Tamil actor Santhanam is facing massive backlash on social media after he shared a video of himself petting a tiger. In a video shared by the actor on his official Twitter account, he can be seen petting a tiger while sitting near a pool. "Idharku per than puli valai pidikratha (this is what it called catching a tiger by its tail)," he wrote on Twitter, along with hashtags #tigerlove" and "#traveldiaries". The actor did not disclose the location of the video.
In the video, Santhanam is seen grabbing the tiger's tail and petting it. The clip further shows an official poking the animal in the head with a stick to wake it up. The tiger meanwhile looks visibly tired.
Watch the video here:
Soon after the video was shared, people flocked to the comments section to criticize the actor for his irresponsible behaviour, and asked him to not encourage animal cruelty. Many also asked him to realise his mistake and delete the video. One user slammed him saying, "What kind of irresponsible behaviour is this? Do you realise you are encouraging animal abuse? In which world is it okay to keep a wild animal like this and stun it to wake up?
Another wrote, "This man is so shameless, even after getting criticised a lot for this post. He still didn't deleted this post. Sick." "Not cool sir.. you have a moral responsibility to be aware of these issues."
A third user commented, "More like tigerhate, sorry to say. Please take some time to understand what 'responsible tourism' means so that you can enjoy your travels in a more responsible and sustainable manner."
"The best to delete this tweet was immediately after posting it, educating yourself about how you shouldn't pose with drugged animals, and show your bravery by trying this with a non-sedated tiger/wolf/hyena or even monkey. The second best time to delete this tweet is now," a fourth Twitter user wrote.
