Influencer Couple Face Legal Action Over Vacation Photos Showing Them Sitting on Sea Turtle

An influencer couple is facing legal action in Oman after posing for photographs while sitting on a sea turtle that was laying eggs during their vacation.

Content creator Vadym Oleynik and his fiancée, Olena Kravchenko, came under scrutiny after Oleynik posted photos from their vacation at Oman’s Ras Al Jinz Turtle Reserve, an eco-tourism site on the eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula.

The now-deleted Instagram posts, which were shared with Oleynik’s roughly 200,000 followers, showed the couple posing separately on the back of a sea turtle. In the images, each is pictured holding a hatchling while seated on the adult turtle’s shell.

Oleynik, who is from Ukraine, also posted a video from the reserve that has since been widely shared online. The footage shows him sitting on the shell of a large sea turtle as it appears to move away. At one point, he falls from the turtle’s back before pulling himself back up and sitting on it again. The video also shows Oleynik holding a baby turtle in the air while it moves its flippers.

Oman Taking ‘Necessary Legal Action’

Oman’s Environment Authority says it has opened an investigation into the photographs and described the behaviour as a violation of Omani wildlife protection laws and regulations. The authority say they will take legal action against the influencer.

In a statement, Oman’s Environmental Authority says that it is “closely following” the circulating video, which it said depicted “a tourist engaging in acts that disturb sea turtles” and was a “violation of the laws and regulations governing wildlife protection in the region.” Oman’s Environment Authority says it has taken the “necessary legal action against the individual concerned.”

After receiving widespread criticism over the posts, Oleynik removed the photos and video from his Instagram account and switched the account to private. In a separate video, he apologized for the images, calling the incident a “mistake.”

“I would like to send, first of all, my [apologies to] the Environmental Authority Sultanate of Oman,” he says in a video. “Also for the protection agency of the green sea turtles that I was sitting on.”