A social media influencer who sparked outrage after she fed a roast chook to a crocodile has landed herself in yet more hot water.
Jaylie Bonow, 28, fronted Brisbane Magistrates Court on Thursday over unrelated fraud and hacking charges.
Bonow, who is from WA, is alleged to have used a restricted Queensland Health computer on August 24, 2017 without consent.
She is also facing charges of illegally accessing and using the drivers’ licenses of three Queensland motorists to carry out the alleged fraud.
The charges come after Bonow was slammed for bragging about feeding a roast chicken to a saltwater croc on the shores of the Russel River, in North Queensland.
She revealed the details of the brazen act in a video she uploaded to social media earlier this month, which has since been deleted.
‘I’m in Far North Queensland at the moment and I thought it’d be a good idea to get a whole chook and feed it to one of the crocs,’ she said.
‘There are some big salties up here and he is absolutely loving it. Rest assured I have stayed away from the [river] bank’.
Jaylie Bonow (pictured), who sparked outrage after she fed a roast chook to a saltwater croc, fronted the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Thursday over unrelated fraud and hacking charges
Bonow, who has almost 84,000 followers on Instagram and uses the name Jaylie Tori online, then turned her phone to show the massive four metre beast emerging from the water.
The daring act has led to an investigation by the Queensland Department of Environment, Science and Innovation (DESI) and Bonow could face a huge $26,000 fine.
Bonow uploaded a video to social media after her court appearance on Thursday and said she had a ‘very stressful morning’ before she addressed the ‘croc incident’, which is not related to the charges she faces.
‘I do just want to reiterate that what I did was stupid – I’ve said it time and time again – and I didn’t know that it was illegal,’ she said.
‘So if you don’t know, which a lot of people didn’t know, that feeding crocs is illegal in Queensland – in fact it’s illegal in the whole of Australia – here is your warning: don’t do what I did.
‘Not only is it illegal it is f***ing dumb.’
Police have alleged Bonow committed the offences at the Queensland Health Chermside Child and Youth Mental clinic, north of Brisbane.
Court documents show she was working as a public servant when the alleged offences were committed, the Courier Mail reported.
Her case will next be heard in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on November 4.
Ms Bonow’s crocodile stunt attracted the attention of the authorities.
‘Deliberately feeding crocodiles can pose a huge risk to other visitors and increase the chances of an attack,’ a DESI spokesman said.
Bonow (pictured), who is from WA, is alleged to have used a restricted Queensland Health computer on August 24, 2017 without consent
The 28-year-old filmed the brazen act on her phone (pictured), which showed the croc emerging from the water at the Russel River, in North Queensland
‘That is why penalties were recently increased for unlawful behaviour that places lives at risk… [and] behaviour that portrays, promotes or encourages people to feed them is totally irresponsible.’
It is understood that DESI’s investigation is ongoing.
In September the maximum court-imposed penalty for deliberately feeding or disturbing crocodiles was raised from $6,452 to $26,615 in Queensland.
Local Member for Barron River Craig Crawford said Ms Bonow should be using their audience to spread common sense.
‘Feeding crocs is not only stupid but illegal and the fines are in the thousands, even pretending or purporting to do it sends a stupid message to others,’ he said.
‘As Far Northerners, irrespective of people’s opinions on crocs, everyone would agree that feeding them changes their behaviour and will make them hang around closer, stalk the area and wait for humans.
Ms Bonow (pictured) previously described her decision to feed the crocodile as a ‘silly mistake’
The Queensland government was earlier this year forced to issued a warning after a video surfaced of a large crocodile eating a small, deceased shark in Rockhampton in February.
Wildlife officer Alexander Peters said he would be ‘extremely disappointed if people were deliberately feeding crocodiles to generate likes on social media’.
‘Deliberately feeding of crocodiles is extremely foolish and dangerous behaviour, as it can lead to the animals learning to associate people with food,’ he said.
‘Previous incidents have shown when a crocodile has been fed, it starts to approach other people for food, or it will hang around an area where they have previously been fed waiting for an easy meal.
‘This can put unsuspecting people at risk and leave the animal vulnerable to being removed from the wild.’
Ms Bonow previously described her decision to feed the crocodile as a ‘silly mistake’.
‘I was so uneducated yesterday and had no idea that feeding crocodiles was illegal. Now I know that feeding the crocs is detrimental to them and the public safety because it changes the behaviour of the crocs,’ she said.
‘Had I known that yesterday I wouldn’t have made the silly mistake.’
