Gold Coast extreme athlete targeted by animal rights activists after ‘abuse’ video surfaces online

Gold Coast daredevil Harry Bink has become the target of animal rights activists after video surfaced allegedly showing him abusing two baby goats.

A GOLD Coast extreme athlete has been forced to apologise after footage of him flinging his pet goat in the air went viral on social media.

Nitro Circus motocross star, Harry Bink, posted the video to his 129,000 Instagram followers late last week, sparking outrage with animal activist groups who shared the clip to more than 200,000 followers.

Bink, 24, quickly removed the post and published videos of himself attempting to explain his actions, but the furore has led to serious concerns regarding the wellbeing of his two goats.

In his videos, Bink asked activists to stop tagging his major sponsors, Redbull and Monster Energy, while insisting he was just “playing around".

“I just woke up to a lot of bad comments on Instagram, emails, calls from people that I work with,” he said.

Motocross rider and Nitro Circus extreme athlete Harry Bink has become the target of animal activists after he was accused of abusing his two goats Billy and Tilly. Video shows Mr Bink tossing and throwing the goats up in the air. Photo: Instagram

“I just want to make it really clear that I don’t abuse my goats ... I really enjoy my time with them, I’ve been watching documentaries to learn more about them and teach them tricks.

“I find it pretty offensive when everyone is saying I’m a goat abuser, I was playing around with my goats.

“I was mucking around and threw it in the air, I caught it and put it on the ground.”

The apology has now received just over 8,000 likes, with many still criticising the athlete’s behaviour.

“Give us a break, stop tagging all my sponsors, it’s not cool,” he said.

Concerns were also raised about the health of the goats, with their horns having been cut off and appearing to be red and infected.

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“Did you even research disbudding before you mutilated these animals?” one commenter wrote, on a video which has since been marked “sensitive” by Instagram.

“Your goats’ buds do not look well ... they look like they’re infected and need medical attention,” wrote another.

Bink claimed on social media he bought the goats with their horns already removed, and would be more careful in future.

Other posts on Bink’s social media show him dropping the pet goats named Billy and Tilly, throwing them around and taking them to the beach.

Motocross rider and Nitro Circus extreme athlete Harry Bink has become the target of animal activists after he was accused of abusing his two goats Billy and Tilly. Photo: Instagram

An RSPCA spokesman confirmed the group was aware of the video and would launch an investigation if a formal complaint was received.

Farm Animal Rescue Australia has confirmed a formal complaint will be on the agenda of the group’s next committee meeting.

Founder Brad King said excuses weren’t good enough, slamming Bink for being an “irresponsible pet owner”.

“We’re not even just talking about animals here, we’re talking about infant animals because from the looks of things they’re about two or three weeks old,” he said.

“These are babies, their bones are still forming properly, their ligaments and muscles are all still coming together, so there’s all sorts of issues that could come from what he was doing.

The goats have also been seen being thrown or dropped to the ground. Photo: Instagram

“If he’s throwing himself around then he’s choosing to do that, if he’s throwing an animal around they’re not aware of why it’s happening and they’re probably terrified.”

On the Gold Coast it is illegal to keep goats without at least 4000m2 of land per animal, it is not known how big Bink’s Gold Coast property is.

The motocross rider did not respond to request for comment.