Actor Santhanam faces backlash over his video holding tiger’s tail in his hand

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], December 28 (ANI): Actor Santhanam has landed himself into trouble.
He posted a video of himself petting an inactive tiger which did not go down well with a section of social media users. Several netizens slammed him for being insensitive to the tiger as he is seen holding the animal's tail in his hand.
The clip further shows an official poking the animal in the head with a stick to wake it up. The tiger meanwhile looks visibly tired.
https://twitter.com/iamsanthanam/status/1606963593765081089https://twitter.com/iamsanthanam/status/1606963593765081089
"This is not cool," a netizen commented.
"There is surely no #tigerlove here. Annoying and cruel," another one wrote.
One user asked Santhanam to delete the video.
"The best to delete this tweet was immediately after posting it, educating yourself about how you shouldn't pose with drugged animals, and show your bravery by trying this with a non-sedated tiger/wolf/hyena or even monkey. The second best time to delete this tweet is now," the user tweeted.
Many even expressed disappointment as Santhanam hasn't yet taken down the controversial video despite the outrage.
"Idharku per than puli valai pidikratha (this is what it called catching a tiger by its tail)," Santhanam captioned the clip, along with hashtags #tigerlove" and "#traveldiaries.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Santhanam was last seen in Agent Kannayiram, which was the remake of the Telugu hit Agent Sai Srinivasa Athreya. (ANI)