A popular food blogger in Thailand is facing five years in prison after she recorded a video in which she eats an entire bat.
Phonchanok shared the 1 minute 40 second clip on her “Gin Zap Bep Nua Nua” (Eat spicy and delicious) YouTube channel and Facebook page that has 390,000 followers.
In the video that went viral, she is seen picking up the bat from a bowl that has cherry tomatoes in soup before ripping it apart and dipping it in a spicy sauce called Nim Jam.
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Phonchanok, who refers to herself as Khru (teacher) Jui, is seen spreading the poor animal’s wings, tearing it apart before devouring it while terming the nocturnal animal very delicious.
She then goes ahead to describe how the bat’s nails smell like a rat and its skin sticky as she compares eating the animal to “eating raw meat” as she goes ahead to consume it whole.
While gnawing its bones, the popular blogger says “the bones are soft” while pointing it at the camera and showing her viewers its teeth in the video that received a wide backlash.
Phonchanok’s followers criticized her viciously raising alarm at her health implications but the blogger later posted that she was “still alive” saying the video was shot two days earlier.
Thai media reported that she first denied the charges before posting a video apologizing to her family, friends and the society at large saying she was “not thinking” when she did it
She faces five years in prison and/or a fine of ฿500,000, equal to Sh1.7 million, for violating the Computer Crimes Act (2007) and being in possession of protected wildlife carcasses.