The man who filmed himself mowing down and killing up to ten emus in a shocking video that went viral online insists he no longer sees the funny side of his actions and is prepared to face the consequences.
Jacob Macdonald, 20, from Pinnaroo, a tiny country town in South Australia near the border with Victoria, was identified as the driver on Thursday after a series of messages between he and an ex-girlfriend surfaced.
A remorseful Mr Macdonald said the video was only meant to be shown to a few mates.
He’s angry at the friend who leaked it online and told 7 News that his message to them ‘wasn’t appropriate for camera.’
A remorseful Jacob Macdonald (pictured) is prepared to face the consequences of his actions, even if it means jail. ‘If that’s what I get, then that’s what I get,’ he said.
A mob of emus were filmed being run down by Mr Macdonald, who was wearing a sunglasses and a cap in the footage
‘Someone’s obviously not as good of a mate as I thought,’ he said.
Mr Macdonald said his actions were out of character and doesn’t know why he did it.
He admitted he’s ‘not proud’ of his actions and revealed that his disappointed parents called him a ‘dumb****’ when they found out what he’d done.
‘It was a mistake…a silly idea. It’s not funny anymore,’ Mr Macdonald said.
‘It was the biggest stuff up of my life.’
Mr Macdonald is prepared to go to jail for his actions.
Jacob Macdonald’s ex-girlfriend confirmed the man in the footage was him after she was bombarded online
‘If that’s what I get, then that’s what I get,’ he said.
Despite online trolls calling for Mr Macdonald to face the maximum penalty associated with the act, which is upwards of five years in prison and a $22,000 fine, he told Daily Mail Australia on Friday that while he didn’t go about it the right way, he thought he was ‘doing a good deed.’
‘I could show you some photos of the destruction the emus make down here. We’ve been in drought. We’re literally growing crops on about four inches of rain.’
‘You’ve got these animals coming in and making a mess,’ he said, ‘the reason there is so many on the road is because they’re looking for something to eat. And there’s nothing.’
Mr Macdonald, who ran down up to ten emus in the incident cited a difficult period in his life, particularly over the past four months when he had a relationship breakdown with an ex-girlfriend, but insists he wasn’t intending to be cruel to the native birds.
‘They’re just that poorly, they need to be put down,’ he said.
‘Here is what the RSPCA doesn’t understand, they go on about cruelty, they should come out here and have a look at the state of these animals… they’re not doing anything for them.’
Jacob Macdonald was identified as the driver on Thursday after a series of messages between he and an ex-girlfriend (pictured) surfaced
Mr Macdonald (pictured) is a keen hunter who works on his friend’s farm. He deleted his social media accounts after footage showed him hitting at least ten emus with a four-wheel-drive
‘It’s unreal the amount of damage they can cause.’
Mr Macdonald, who works on a farm doing tractor and welding work, said the frequency of their crops being destroyed had only increased throughout the drought, as the animals sought food and water from any available source.
‘It doesn’t matter how good your fences are, they still get in and they wreck everything. With all of us put together we’re talking half a million dollars each year just in damages to crops.’
The footage, which Mr Macdonald alleges was only send to a few of his friends became a viral sensation after it was originally posted to Facebook by Fabio Galletti, who shared the clip and asked his followers to help him identify the emu killer.
He can be seen panning the camera to his dashboard, appearing to show speeds of over 120km/h while maniacally laughing as the emus disappear under his bonnet.
‘One, two, three!’ he laughs as the birds are mowed down on the dusty road.
The keen hunter went ‘off the rails’ after his latest relationship breakdown, according to his ex-girlfriend.
The footage was posted to Facebook by a man named Fabio Galletti, who pleaded with his followers to out the driver. A number of men were wrongly tagged in the post
At least ten emus are run over in the video, which has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times
The keen hunter went ‘off the rails’ after his latest relationship breakdown, according to his ex-girlfriend
‘He’s the type to go hunting, he grew up that way but this is just atrocious. I was shocked and speechless… angry mostly,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
She claimed his mother was a police officer and his father was a farmer in the NSW Riverina region.
Mr Macdonald said he was apologetic for what he had done
‘His parents would be outraged by his actions,’ she said. ‘They’re genuinely good people.’
Mr Macdonald said he’s ‘very apologetic,’ for his actions.
‘I realise now it was the wrong thing to do. I’ve never put an animal through suffering before. I know what I did wrong.’
‘I’ve been in contact with police and everything.’
He has since been charged with aggravated cruelty to an animal, cruelty to an animal, torment to an animal, destruction of protected wildlife and a number of traffic related offences including using a mobile phone while driving and speeding.
He will appear in court on November 9.
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