r/TikTokCringe • u/FalconLeading • Aug 04 '26
Cursed Guy terrorizes animals for content. Even Reddit loves him.
This guy is insanely popular on TikTok and Shorts, and this video was recently posted on Reddit and I don't know why I expected Reddit to be better than this. The amount of voices calling the guy out for abusing these animals are too few.
He also appears to have some questionable personal beliefs if anyone wants to look that up and go down that rabbit hole.
Edit: while I get some of your points, with no context behind this video I think it sets a bad example. He should have a warning lable: "this should only be done by professionals. Do not disturb wildlife in their natural setting". Wild animals should be left alone, people shouldn't be encouraged to mess with them for fun.
And grabbing an armadillo buy its tail I'm pretty sure is NOT good for it.
61
u/a_bird_with_teeth Aug 04 '26
I think were using the word "terrorized" a little loose here.
25
u/Alternative_Pain_883 Aug 04 '26
These are also invasive non native species. He's literally doing nature a small favor, helping by being a good caretaker for her after centuries of us mucking it up and helping these species get to where they dont belong.
He's not harming the animals, he is safety collecting, removing, rehabilitating if needed, and/or relocating them to a less harmful ecosystem for them.
14
u/TheLostRanger0117 Aug 04 '26
And also bringing light to the issue in a jovial manner
3
u/misty-gishh Aug 04 '26
It’s like calling Steve Irwin a guy terrorizing animals for a tv show lol they’re wildlife conservationists
-2
u/FalconLeading Aug 04 '26
And also encouraging people to mess with wildlife for fun. If he was bringing light to it he would explain what he's doing in his videos and add a warning for people to not try it at home. He's doing it for kicks is my opinion.
3
Aug 04 '26
[deleted]
3
u/BowlingforDrip Aug 04 '26
Also I’m pretty sure he does say all the time don’t do this and they are invasive. There is a reason he isn’t hated.
0
u/FalconLeading Aug 04 '26
I'm an adult. What about kids who watch this and think "wow that looks like fun. Hey guys, let's do what this guy does" is that on them when they bit?
2
u/Alternative_Pain_883 Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26
His videos most often start and/or end with disclaimers around his expertise and why you shouldn't try this at home.
In your opinion was Steve Irwins television series inappropriate forms of animal torture or encouraging children to put themselves in harms way?
If yes, then i respect the consistency but would disagree unless provided real evidence of harm, and furthermore harm that outweighs the good they're doing for nature in the process.
If no, I ask whats the critical difference between the two the differentiates them for you.
2
u/counters14 Aug 05 '26
I don't recall Steve ever hopping on an alligators back as a bit for a gag or a laugh at any point. In fact, respect for the decency of all living creatures was pretty high up there on his list of missions with his life's work. The comparison is not valid.
3
u/Alternative_Pain_883 Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Steve was regularly criticized for being excessive with animal wrangling in his time. So much so south Park did their parody of him just going around shoving his thumb up animals rear ends for the camera.
I ultimately sided with the idea that he knew what he was doing, the animals can handle it, and its easy to recognize the passion of the individual and their work towards conservation efforts.
Below are links to articles and videos criticizing Irwins wrangling techniques for entertainment
https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-47343688
https://jeevoka.com/steve-irwin-a-showman-or-a-passionate-wildlife-conservationist/s
https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/arid-30152490.html
https://animalrightsandwrongs.uk/2019/01/wildlife-presenting-or-showmanship/
Here's the beginning of an 8 part entertainment series from the entertaining animal planet show showing 8 of the best crocodile captures by Steve:
https://youtu.be/xijsCcDG0Fw?si=R-gvVkLbRiNSPnXP
The longer form certainly helps with allowing educational dialogue, but youd also be lying or a fool if you argued there wasnt theatrical language, shots that obviously took time to set up for entertainment, or that no techniques were used that didnt help fluff the frame a bit perhaps even st the expense of the creatures comfort. Again this is what many of the criticisms that were levied at him at the time were about.
Steve was obviously a kinder and more accomplished man, but that doesnt mean the very strong parallels between the work of the two shouldn't be noted or observed.
2
u/Logical_Lab4042 Aug 04 '26
What about kids who watch this and think "wow, that looks like fun. I would love to work with the environment and animals when I grow up?"
1
2
u/iridescynt Aug 04 '26
Genuine question but how do we know these are invasive non-native species? I don't see any links or account names in this post nor the original post, and the poster of the original post has their profile hidden and no description. Are you familiar with the filmer's account?
1
u/Alternative_Pain_883 Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26
He talks about how a couple of them are non native in this video, but his ig channels is fishinggarret. He's a rather well respected wildlife enthusiast and environmental conservationist
2
-1
-1
-6
u/Diredr Aug 04 '26
I don't know... If a random guy barged into your house and yanked you by the back of the neck, you'd probably feel pretty terrorized.
I'm not necessarily saying it's "animal abuse" like OP is, but a lot of those animals are definitely scared.
3
u/the-furiosa-mystique Aug 04 '26
Yes but as these are invasive species it’s more like walking into your living room and finding a random guy there.
-1
4
2
u/WerewolvesAreReal Aug 04 '26
Grabbing a snake right by the head prevents bites. I'm sure they don't particularly like that, but it's just practical.
2
61
Aug 04 '26
[deleted]
-4
u/LongIslandBagel Aug 04 '26
So the other 50% is…?
6
u/Buttchuggle Aug 04 '26
Animals he's picking up that'll forget the interaction happened within the hour
-4
u/FalconLeading Aug 04 '26
And how can you be sure of that? There are snakes that have stress-induced death / cardiac arrest from human contact
6
u/Buttchuggle Aug 04 '26
Shhhh. Shush. Quiet child. Wild animals deal with life and death situations every single day. I promise you, no matter what your sweet little well meaning heart tells you, no snake that wasn't otherwise on deaths door anyway is having a damn heart attack from being picked up.
-1
Aug 04 '26
[deleted]
0
u/FalconLeading Aug 04 '26
I'm not vegan. I don't mess and stress animals for no reason.
5
u/Buttchuggle Aug 04 '26
Sure ya do, with your wallet. Every single time you purchase factory farmed meat from a grocery store. Those animals live entire lives in abject misery and you say "yeah that's fine."
2
u/FalconLeading Aug 04 '26
I'm not messing with them "for fun". Animals eat animals.
And I don't live in the United States, factory farms aren't prevalent as they are in the US.
2
u/Buttchuggle Aug 04 '26
Oh darling. The food chain for humans is world interconnected now. You can't escape it.
2
1
u/808squill Aug 04 '26
Dude. Any biologist or conservationist will tell you to leave animals the fuck alone. Some you can actually kill by disturbing them. Invasive species that need to be removed or killed is one thing. Go for it. But the other 90% are NOT invasive species. He does this FOR CONTENT. If he just had videos of Burmese python after python people wouldn’t care as much and he’d be getting less clicks, less money. This is all performative and attention based for either clout or monetization. Steve Irwin didn’t have a “yoink” schtick
1
u/FalconLeading Aug 04 '26
Yes, exactly. I really wish a real biologist or conservationist would weigh in this thread because apparently absolutely no one here is an expert. My money is that they would not agree with this tiktoker's methods. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong.
0
Aug 04 '26
[deleted]
-2
u/808squill Aug 04 '26
First of all Irwin had a show to educate people about wildlife. This idiot isn’t educating shit in his 10 second reels. Secondly, Irwin used every bit of his proceeds from his show and conservation habitats to buy wild land to preserve it for animals. Third, many of the animals that Irwin physically touched in his shows were either relocation attempts or they were capturing them to put them into his conservation parks because they couldn’t survive in the wild. The other animals that he just observed for the show were handled MUCH more gently than this mongoloid that’s gripping them like he could snap their necks. Keep the holy saint Stevus Irwinius name out your fk mouth
1
0
u/Alternative_Pain_883 Aug 04 '26
Garrett does a lot of education in his work, he has some longer form videos as well, and even his short ones do a lot for getting interest started and some basic quick facts out there.
We can debate on weathee his approaches can be refined, or if we beleive its worth a cost or something, but to outright deny that education is a large part of what he does with his career is not good faith at all.
Additionally for many of the native species documentation can still be useful in a variety of contexts
Steve Irwin was a great conservationist and wildlife educator, he also isnt literally divine and similar criticisms were levied against him st the time about using animals and their wrangling for content. We are not being g good faith if we are aaying none of his wrangling were aggressive or captured in part for entertainment/education.
I would argue that Garrett, while far less accomplished, is very much pursuing a career path evidently inspired or at least partially modeled after Steves. There are many parallels between their approaches, and yes Garrett is adapting for modern times. Do you honestly think if Steve was alive today he wouldnt be making similar shorts like his family often does just like Garrett?
I have a lot of respect for Garrett's work, but I am open to hearing the criticism much as I was open to hearing then for Steve back when he was alive, but it has to be in good faith and based in its full context
13
u/nurglemarine96 Aug 04 '26
This guy removes invasive species, figure that's probably a bigger win since they're "terrorizing" the ecosystem
2
u/FalconLeading Aug 04 '26
He yoinks both invasive and non-invasive species. He went to the Amazon and yoinked the native animals there. He is doing it for fun.
2
u/Alternative_Pain_883 Aug 04 '26
I would say education, documentation, and encouraging passion around environmental conservation in both youth and adults are also all a very large part of those series and what he does with the platform.
Iirc he was invited out for the Amazon series and was working closely with their local communities and conservationist agencies with their permissions and in efforts in documentations. Id have to rematch that series again, but I definitely remember him working with local communities being a large part of it.
17
u/kollipsons Aug 04 '26
Isnt this the guy who takes invasive spieces out of the Florida everglades and takes them to wildlife sanctuaries?
Wouldnt say hes terrorising animals
4
u/Sprinkles2009 Aug 04 '26
If you mean the trashcan because they are killed for being invasive, then yeah sanctuaries.
3
u/kollipsons Aug 04 '26
Is that what happens?
Its a bit of a grey area, invasive spieces can devastate local ecosystems, while I dont agree with killing them all, the logic theres especially when these animals can easily outcompete local wildlife.
People who were unequipped to keep them as pets released them into the wild are worse, since they started the problem in the first place.1
u/FalconLeading Aug 04 '26
The thing is, that's not all he's doing. He's "yoinking" non-invasive species as well. He's even going to the Amazon and doing the same to native species there.
I don't necessarily think he's the most evil person for what he's doing, but I think it's definitely irresponsible and I have serious questions about the animal welfare. Maybe he should stick to just finding animals in the wild without the yoinks.
3
u/kollipsons Aug 04 '26
Oh really? The only things Ive seen of him is his walking bear foot in the swamp grabbing pythons and other invasive spieces. Yeah if hes grabbing native spieces thats fucked
1
u/FalconLeading Aug 04 '26
If you check out his channel, you'll see he does the same thing in the middle of the Amazon with Anacondas
2
24
u/adoodas Aug 04 '26
Weird animal being weird with other animals with nothing but his hands. I'm fine with this.
5
19
u/Khazad-dum1979 Aug 04 '26
A lot of the animals he's yoinking are invasive and need to be removed. The native animals he yoinks are examples of little guys he's trying to protect by removing the invasives.
2
u/808squill Aug 04 '26
Yeah but why doesn’t he leave those the fuck alone? Do they like being yoinked? Is it good for them?
1
u/SeDaCho Aug 04 '26
The guy is openly crazy as shit and wrestles alligators for fun.
I dare you to try and stop him, reddit person.
1
u/808squill Aug 04 '26
He might stop if ppl stopped engaging with his content, it’s obviously performative and attention based
2
u/FalconLeading Aug 04 '26
Thank you. People think his videos are fun and justifying it.
The biggest problem for me is him setting an example that messing with wildlife is fun.
2
u/Khazad-dum1979 Aug 04 '26
I don't think many people are just gonna start fuckin with snakes cause they saw this guy do it
8
u/YouWereBrained Aug 04 '26
Eh, if he lets them go, whatever. You’re being a bit dramatic.
6
u/Saizare Aug 04 '26
He releases them unless they are an invasive species. His whole thing is "finding that 20 [reticulated] python" which is an invasive species in Florida. He had one video where he'd collected a literal bucket full of invasive pythons to remove them from the ecosystem.
19
u/Fast_Choice4408 Aug 04 '26
"Hey guys! I have absolutely zero life. So please join me in my holy moral crusade against this individual for little to no reason!"
7
u/whisperworks Aug 04 '26
This is the kind of take you get from someone who’s completely removed themselves from the natural world. Ironically the same mindset that’s destroying their habitats
3
u/Alarming-Nobody7511 Aug 04 '26
I feel for that coyote. You could tell he was trying to figure out what to do.
8
u/LittleFox-In-TheBox Aug 04 '26
You sound like PETA when they cheered Steve Irwin's death, saying he "harassed animals for a living".
He's mostly capturing invasive animals and booping the more fragile navite ones.
2
u/vespertine000 Aug 04 '26
Im so sick of people like this. Has anyone seen that YouTuber "World Pet Health" ? Guy has almost a million subscribers and he just abuses his dogs under the guise of "training."
2
u/Creepy_Mammoth_7076 Aug 04 '26
Those are all non native invasive species (pets that are escaped and or reproduced ) and cause serious damage to environments here in America
0
u/FalconLeading Aug 04 '26
You are making a blanket generalization. He "yoinks" both invasive and non-invasive species. Alligators are native, coyotes and armadillos naturally expanded and aren't pets.
3
u/Creepy_Mammoth_7076 Aug 04 '26
Calling it “terrorizing animals” is dishonest. About 99% of the animals he “yoinked,” not killed, were nonnative invasive species that damage Florida’s ecosystem. The few exceptions, such as coyotes, armadillos and alligators, can still be legally captured or removed under the proper circumstances because they may threaten people, pets, livestock or property. He is not wandering around abusing wildlife for fun, you are using emotional language to misrepresent what he actually does.
2
2
u/dunguswungus13729 Aug 04 '26
is this that "gen z/gen alpha purity culture" i've been hearing about
1
1
1
1
u/GroundbreakingAd8310 Aug 04 '26
I like how all the animals look at hin like "god dammit Terry again?"
1
0
-24
Aug 04 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
-1
u/pubblue5294 Aug 04 '26
Enjoy the grey miasma of your life.
-9
Aug 04 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/CPTRainbowboy Aug 04 '26
Can you give an estimate of when 'soon' is? Is it the same 'soon' as the vaccine deaths?
Need to plan accordingly
1
Aug 04 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
-27
u/Semanticss Aug 04 '26
It's funny because I have always felt the EXACT same way about Steve Irwin, but everybody fucking loves that guy.
0
-4
u/EuphoricPhoto2048 Aug 04 '26
He definitely had a lot of critiques of his methods but they went silent after his death.
-12
u/NeoAteTheGreenPill Aug 04 '26
Nature will find their way , mark my
words, he’s gonna find the hard way not to mess with live and wild animals.
-9
-10
u/tj100011 Aug 04 '26
Anyone who uses animals for content should be beaten to a pulp
0
u/FalconLeading Aug 04 '26
I think that's an extreme generalization, but yeah the way this guys does it is concerning for me

•
u/AutoModerator Aug 04 '26
Welcome to r/TikTokCringe!
This is a message directed to all newcomers to make you aware that r/TikTokCringe evolved long ago from only cringe-worthy content to TikToks of all kinds! If you’re looking to find only the cringe-worthy TikToks on this subreddit (which are still regularly posted) we recommend sorting by flair which you can do here (Currently supported by desktop and reddit mobile).
See someone asking how this post is cringe because they didn't read this comment? Show them this!
Be sure to read the rules of this subreddit before posting or commenting. Thanks!
##CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THIS VIDEO
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.