A woman has been arrested after she filmed herself skinning, cooking and eating endangered animals so that she could earn money on YouTube.

Dressed in hot pants and crop tops, Ah Lin Tuch sparked outrage at her choice of food as she presented a ‘survivalist’ life, reports the Metro. She ate:

An endangered fishing cat

A large lizard

Several protected species of birds

A king cobra

Shark

Stingrays

Frogs

However viewers reported her when they realised that many of the animals she was eating near her home in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, were actually protected species. She and her husband Phoun Raty were tracked down by the country’s Ministry of Environment and have publicly apologised for ‘destroying our wildlife’.

Chea Sam Arng, head of the Environment Ministry’s General Directorate for Administration of Nature Conservation and Protection, said: ‘We are now in the process of taking legal action against them while the working group is preparing a report on the matter. ‘The animals that were cooked were mostly not on the endangered list, but are protected. Only one species was in danger of extinction.’

The endangered animal is the fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus), while the lizard, a large heron and other species of birds are protected. The couple have removed the clips of Ah Lin eating those animals – but still have footage of her eating frogs, the cobra, shark and a stingray. The couple claimed that they bought the wildlife ‘from a local market’ then cooked it.

Environment officials are now investigating whether the animals were killed in the wild or bought from illegal stalls while they prepare the prosecution. Ah Lin said: ‘I don’t even know what kind of animals or birds we used or their impact on wildlife conservation.

‘I bought the wildlife at Preak Phnov and we started filming our videos since December. Now I have already admitted my mistake.’ Ah Lin’s husband, Phoun, said they had intended to earn a living from the social media channel which had so far earned them $500 for Google sponsored adverts being shown on the clips. Chea Sam Arng said the Government was now investigating the couple and the sources of the wildlife they were seen cooking.