“They’ve been well-known animal abusers for a long time. A ton of animal groups, from no-kill shelters to Save the Tarpon have been after them for years,” she said. “Someone needs to dig into it, why they keep getting away with it, and why are their parents defending them? If I did something like this, my parents would never talk to me again.” Activist Courtney Martin of Save the Tarpon
A video showed up on social media recently when a text message video of a tethered shark being dragged behind a high speed boat was sent to Mark "The Shark" Quartianoa, a famous sport fisherman who specializes in shark fishing. Quartianoa, based in , Miami says the video and a image of the aftermath of the sharks body torn to pieces stated that it was intended to impress him. Instead, he was disgusted and stated "I've never seen a more horrific video as far as an animal is concerned in fifty years of shark fishing”. Apparently there was a texting back and forth and Quartianoa was called a “hater” by the perpetuator. He posted the video to Instagram and contacted the “Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) investigators, they asked him to leave the post online, hoping to generate tips. The video was shared and commenters on social media were able to identify the four men in the video”.
Michael Robert Wenzel ,Bo Benac, Spencer Heintz, and Nicholas Burns were identified as the men in the video. Everipedia reported on this story and has posted disturbing images and videos exposing these disgusting excuses for human beings.
Michael Wenzel has violated multiple Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) hunting and fishing laws. The Facebook page Save the tarpon publicly exposed these crimes as early as May, 2015.
In 2015, Michael was investigated by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and state officials after posting a series of disturbing pictures that showed posing with dead pelicans and a gull. Pelicans and gulls are a protected species and are illegal to kill. In January, 2016 the USFWS closed the investigation against
In January, 2017 Michael caught a hammerhead shark, poured beer in its gills, and used it as a beer bong. [34] He posted the video on Snapchat and on January 5, 2017 it was shared and promoted by the Facebook page Doyouevenfishbro. [35] The Facebook page Support No Kill Manatee County shared the video on July 27, 2017 to expose Michael's cruelty to the shark. [36]
On July 28, 2016 Michael posted a photo of himself shooting tarpon with a handgun. In May, 2015 Michael caught and killed tarpon with harpoons on multiple occasions and posted three photos of himself with the dead fishes on Instagram. In Florida, tarpon are a catch-and-release-only species and over 40 inches must remain in the water. He also tagged one of the posts #FWCsMostWanted. [28] [29] [30] [31] [32]
In June, 2014 Michael caught a spotted eagle ray with friends and posted a photo of the dead ray on Instagram. In the state of Florida it is unlawful to harvest, possess, land, purchase, sell, or exchange this protected species. [27] [33]
Michael Wenzel posted a photo of himself pouring beer into the mouth of an Atlantic goliath grouper also known as a jewfish while Bo Benac held the fish. [39]Atlantic goliath grouper are a protected species. [43]
x xYouTube VideoPlease sign the below petition and send a message to these guys and their rich and powerful families that killing and mutilating wildlife for “fun” has severe consequences.
Action
WTF Florida started a Change.org petitionwith over 3,000 signatures to sentence Michael and his friends to community service and jail for the shark cruelty incident.