Watch him feed the bear in the video below.
Video credit: Ray Barnes
Dan Bilzerian who is a social media celebrity known as the “King of Instagram faced criticism from PETA as he fed a bear at a house party.
But the 38-year-old social media star said that he loves animals and was “feeding a happy, healthy bear who was rescued at a young age.
Last week, Dan hand-fed a Kodiak bear during his party and partier watched. He posted the video on his Instagram account and it soon went viral, gained millions of views and thousands of comments.
After the video posted, PETA sent letters to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the L.A. Department of Animal Services. PETA said that Bear was too close to bystanders and Dan and Martin didn’t have required permit for the event.
PETA Senior Vice President Lisa Lange tells PEOPLE in a statement, “Bears belong in the wild, not in captivity,”
“PETA is calling on authorities to throw the book at scofflaw animal exhibitor Steve Martin and the man who hired him for this dangerous stunt.”
But Dan said that he loves animals and would never hurt them.
He said: “It’s pretty obvious I love animals,”
“I gave up hunting a long time ago. I’ve tweeted ‘you should only kill an animal if you are gonna eat it, and that trophy hunters obviously have small d—s.’
“I appreciate people trying to stand up for animals,” he continues. “However, you’ve got people killing thousands of animals every day for sport, torturing dogs in China and clubbing seals to death for fun. [PETA] wants to do the typical internet bandwagon on whatever is popular and come after me.”
There were no electric fences,” he says. “There was no prodding the bear. I was feeding a very healthy, happy bear who was rescued at a young age.”
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