Featured Image Credit: CEN.
Topics: World News, News, Parenting
Rachel Lang
A couple in Brazil has found themselves at the centre of a social media firestorm after they decided to mess with a waterfall to reveal the sex of their baby.
They're obviously having a boy judging by the intense blue colour of the waterfall.
The gleeful parents and their 50 partygoers were seen celebrating in footage shared to social media on Sunday (September 25).
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But their excitement was short-lived after furious locals caught wind of the stunt they had pulled.
Livid locals flooded social media to accuse the family of triggering an environmental disaster in the river and called on authorities to arrest them for a crime against nature.
Environmental engineer Vanessa Costa said: "Congratulations. You will be the parents of a beautiful environmental crime."
Others warned that the water may now be contaminated for people who drink it further downstream.
The waterfall feeds into the Queima-Pe River and is the main water source for the nearby city of Tangara da Serra.
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Recent periods of drought have meant that residents are relying on the river more and more, which is likely why the viral video sparked such an intense reaction.
The couple deleted the videos as backlash continued to swell, but as everyone knows: the internet is forever.
After the videos went viral on social media, the Secretary of State for the Environment of Mato Grosso (SEMA) released a statement to confirm that an investigation into the incident was now underway.
SEMA will now test the water and to determine what products were used to dye the waterfall and if there is any environmental damage.
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SEMA's statement, published by Brazilian news site G1, noted that six officials - two from SEMA and four from the municipality of Tangará da Serra - have been dispatched to look into the matter.
The ill-fated gender reveal party is the latest in a string of baby bashes to trigger environmental mayhem.
In 2020, a wildfire in California that destroyed more than 7,000 acres of land was started by a 'pyrotechnic device' used for a photo opportunity at a gender reveal party.
In 2021, a Canadian couple copped a fine after they set off an explosive device for their gender reveal party. It sparked a massive fire about 10 kilometres outside of Fort McMurray in Alberta.