After being seen in Australia carrying a platypus on a train, a man gets charged with kidnapping it.
The 26-year-old guy has since been accused of taking a platypus from its natural home on Tuesday in Brisbane, Australia.
Video captured a man clutching an animal that was covered in a towel as they boarded a train from Morayfield to Caboolture.
‘According to the complaint that was presented to [authorities], they were showing it off to everyone on the train and allowed people to pat it,’ said acting superintendent Scott Knowles of Queensland Police.
‘The concerns around that would be some of the diseases that people may carry that might impact on the animal and vice versa.’
He added a witness had told police that the pair said they had found it on a road and were planning to release it.
The pair are then accused of entering a King Street shopping centre and showing it to people.
After an appeal by the police, officers from the Railway Squad tracked the man down today.
He has been charged with one count of taking a protected animal, and another of restriction on keeping or using taken protected animal.
He is due to appear at Caloundra Magistrates Court on Saturday.
Police added they have spoken to a woman and investigations are ongoing.
The animal is believed to have been released into the Caboolture River, but has not yet been found by authorities. Its condition is unknown.
Taking a platypus from its natural habitat carries a fine of up to AUD $430,000 (£231,200) in Australia.
The animal is at risk of illness or dying if taken out of its habitat, and the male platypus has a venomous spur which can cause cause excruciating pain to humans.
The platypus can be found across eastern Australia, including Tasmania, but there are only around 300,000 left in the wild.
They tend to live in freshwater creeks, slow-moving rivers, lakes and dams.
It is also one of only two types of mammals that lay eggs in the world – known as monotremes.
The other monotreme is an echidna, which is sometimes known as a spiny anteater.
Members of the public are advised to keep their distance if they spot a platypus in the wild and to never touch a wild animal or remove it from its habitat.