HONOLULU (KHON2) — Former Disney Channel star China Anne McClain, as well as her sister Sierra and father, who also serves as the sisters’ manager, are under fire after an Instagram post where one of the sisters are touching a local honu, while the other sister recorded.
The now-deleted post received thousands of comments, many of them pleading for the video’s removal and for the sisters to apologize, including a comment from Gov. Josh Green.
“I was not fully aware of the situation until today, and I certainly wasn’t aware of the laws. The video was from two years ago when we visited Hawaiʻi and I came across it in my phone and decided to post it,” China told the Department of Land and Natural Resources.
While touching turtles is not necessarily against the law, unless the intent is to harm the turtle, there are multiple laws at the state and federal laws that a person could be charged with, according to the DLNR.
“On its face their activity may not have been a violation of state or federal rules that protect endangered or threatened species like turtles, but it certainly ignored wildlife viewing guidelines developed by NOAA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the DLNR,” the department said.
Upon notification of the video, the DLNR made multiple calls and sent e-mails to the McClain sisters, their management, publicists, record labels and production companies to ensure the deletion of the post.
“Although we understand it was probably not intentional, this is not a pono way to interact with Hawaiian wildlife. We encourage the sharing of positive behaviors on social media to inspire others to appreciate and protect our beautiful surroundings,” said DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources Administrator Brian Neilson.
Both sisters and their father-slash-manager have offered their apologies.
“It’s the people I don’t want to hurt. I understand respecting culture, and I understand the pain that comes with not having your culture respected,” China said. “Those are never lines that we cross intentionally, so that part of this situation is hurting us right now. I adore these beautiful turtles and the people of Hawaiʻi. We’re very sorry.”
“We have an immense amount of respect for the residents of Hawaiʻi and their intent to safeguard their land and their wildlife, and we plan to take the necessary precautions in the future when traveling,” Sierra said.
“We want people to know that China was not aware of the laws, and we appreciate that people and the agencies reached out,” Michael McClain said. “All our family loves and respects Hawaiʻi and we apologize for inadvertently causing this pain.”
DLNR advises that when people see honu, they stay at least 10 feet away from them, avoid touching, chasing, feeding or interfering with adults and hatchlings and avoid blocking their access to or from the ocean.