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Warning: Graphic content 

A “violent and disturbing” video has emerged of a teenage boy repeatedly punching a live octopus in the head at a Bay of Plenty beach while his friends film it and cheer him on. 

The Ministry for Primary Industries is making inquiries after an animal welfare organisation laid a complaint after viewing the shocking episode online. 

In the 25-second footage, the youth can be seen kicking an octopus off the rocks before others yell “Punch him” and “Get him”. 

He strikes the octopus in the head eight times and kicks it around in the sand while someone shouts, “Don’t let him go!” 

The boy then punches the octopus twice more in the head. 

Other teens can be heard cheering on the boy in the background 

The video was shared on the NZ Squid Fishing Community Facebook page, with one person posting: “Not much upsets me but this made me a mixture of sad and furious. I’d fight someone over that, disgusting” 

Another posted: “The bro has some issues that even a octopus can’t fix.” 

In the video, others could be heard egging on the attacker, yelling 'Punch it!' and 'Get it!'. 

One person, who shared the post on his social media, told the Herald he shared the footage to expose the “pretty disgusting” behaviour. 

“I’ve gotten lots and lots of messages from people who are angry at him,” he said. 

“They saw that and were disgusted by it and blocked him now.” 

Several people commented on the reposted footage, saying “[Thank you] for posting this, sick guy”, “Let’s speak out against this f**ker” and “This is so f**ked up thank you for caring bro”. 

The youth initially kicked the octopus off the rocks before punching it eight times in the head, kicking it again and punching twice more. 

Animal charity SAFE’s chief executive Debra Aston called the attack “violent and disturbing ... on an innocent sea animal”. 

She laid a formal complaint with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) who passed it to their investigations team. 

“It is clear this person has no regard for the wellbeing of any living creature,” she said. 

“There is clear evidence that people who commit abuse towards an animal are likely to do the same to humans. 

“I also question the motives of the person filming this attack and others that can be heard in the video saying ‘don’t let him go'. This person needs to be found and held to account for their actions before they do something like this again.” 

Aston said the attack would cause unnecessary pain and distress and would have led to the death of the animal. 

“That was a fierce attack. Ill-treatment towards an animal is recognised under the [Animal Welfare] Act and people can and should be charged with animal cruelty for these types of acts.” 

MPI animal welfare and NAIT compliance regional ranger Brendon Mikkelsen said they received complaints following a social media video showing a person hitting and kicking an octopus. 

“The behaviour in the video is unacceptable, and we will be making inquiries.” 

David Williams is an Auckland-based Multimedia Journalist who joined the Herald in 2023. He covers breaking news and general topics.