Update: The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has charged the three men who filmed themselves dragging a shark behind their boat at high speed until it died.
After the video went viral in July, critics across the web called for the arrest of the men who can be seen laughing as the drowning shark flops around violently behind the speeding boat. A photo posted online shows two of the men posing with the maimed shark after it died.
The video was reposted on Instagram by Mark Quartiano, a Miami fisherman who says someone sent it to him thinking it would be funny. Quartiano, who goes by “Mark the Shark,” has clashed with conservationists in the past for killing sharks, but this sick video was too much even for him.
The men in the video have been identified as Michael Wenzel, Robert Lee Benac, and Spencer Heintz. After a four-month-long investigation, all three were charged with two felony counts of aggravated animal abuse, according to the FWC.
Sharp-eyed social media users unearthed other images posted by at least two of the men abusing animals. The photos show the men pouring beer down a fish’s throat and posing with a dead dog they apparently used as shark bait.
A Change.org petition calling for the men to be imprisoned gathered more than 250,000 signatures and now claims victory.
“Mugshots and everything. We did it,” reads an update on the site. “Of course, we still must await the outcome of the trial, but the fact that charges were even pressed is monumental. They had been getting away with this behavior for years until all of us stood up and said no more. This is proof that we can make a difference.”
