Controversy: Dylan Mayer proudly displays the octopus he caught
A rising tide of outrage is forming after pictures emerged of a 20-year-old diver who dragged a giant Pacific octopus from its watery home and then killed and ate it for his friends art project.
Angry fellow divers from the shore of Seattle took photographs of Dylan Mayer proudly standing with the large octopus and then watched in disbelief as he and his friend tossed the still live 30 pound female onto the bed of his truck before driving off.
Their shock turned to horror as a grinning Mayer posted images of himself measuring the now dead octopus onto his Facebook account and now is in the position of having to justify to the diving community why he hunted the gentle and intelligent animal.
'As they were coming in you could tell the octopus was alive. It was writhing around and they were wrestling with it,' said Bob Bailey who witnessed Mayer bring the octopus to shore.
'It's just not done. It's bad form. Even if you can do it, you shouldn't do it.'
Local activists photographed Mr Mayer's catch and posted the photos on their website and urged outraged residents to sign a petition banning the harvesting of giant Pacific octopuses.
Admired by marine experts for their agile intelligence and ability to change colour to match their surroundings, the giant Pacific octopus is not protected but is not usually hunted for food.
However, Mayer defended his decision to catch the cephalopod, claiming that his friend needed his help.
'I eat it for meat. It's no different than fishing. It's just a different animal,' said Mayer to Komo News.
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Fresh catch: Mr Mayer loaded the live cephalopod into the back of his pickup truck
Food? Mr Mayer said he planned to eat to octopus and that catching it was no different than catching an eating a fish
Thousands of scuba divers from across the world visit Puget Sound off the coast of Seattle in the hope of seeing the giant Pacific octopus.'He wanted me to get something from nature, so I got an octopus. I caught it, and then these divers came up and started yelling at me. I ignored them and ended up driving away.'
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