Last Wednesday a flat on Leith Street held an initiation for several freshers who allegedly endured various hazing rituals, including the gross norm of physical abuse, chugging milk, and funnelling vomit. And, as seen by several witnesses, abusing a live eel.
A video shown to Critic Te Ārohi depicts four boys in their underwear standing in a drum filled with off-coloured water, hands clasped around a live, panicking eel. They hoist it above their heads as if it were a trophy as the eel tries to escape. Crowds of onlookers cheer.
But not everyone was cheering, according to bystander Taylor*, who says she and several others became emotional as they saw the eel being lifted out of the water. “There were lots of us standing on the bridge to see what was going on. I was like, ‘What the fuck is this?’ Then I saw the eel. I saw people gagging, and there were a few girls on the balcony crying. It was the most traumatic initiation I've ever witnessed.”
This is the second animal-related initiation this season, as reports have circulated of first-years being told to bring a live duck to another initiation. We’re not sure what happened at that one. In the past, pre-Covid, a source told us the ducks used to be killed. Another initiation this year tasked first-years with stealing items from flats, a few of which came away with Xboxes. And we understand that this is far, far from the worst initiation Dunedin has seen this year. It’s just the one that happened to end up on our desks.
Despite the freshers celebrating their capture of the eel, Taylor insists the coercive nature of initiations means the onus should fall on the second-years who organised it, and not the boys being hazed. “It was clearly an initiation for a flat. They are clearly being put to the test. I heard they were getting beaten pretty badly, people even tried to intervene. The freshers don’t have any power, really. They’re forced to do these things.”
Critic understands that the eel part of the initiation was not part of the original plan, and that the flat in question did not sanction its inclusion. We can’t tell if it’s a longfin or shortfin eel, but it’s probably a shortfin, which are “not threatened” according to DOC and are relatively pollutant-tolerant. We also understand that outsiders were apparently responsible for pushing the event over the line, including involving the eel.
Rosa, who saw the video being circulated, says she felt “physically ill” as she watched the eel pulled from the water. “This behaviour is cruel and sadistic, frankly. Subjecting that poor animal to entirely unnecessary suffering. Those boys aren’t children, they know these animals can feel pain and stress. They have no excuse. I know that flat wouldn’t want people outside of Leith and Castle Street knowing about it, because they know how wrong it is. The only way this shit continues is because of the social pressure and fear of retaliation for speaking against it or refusing to participate. I only hope they killed the eel afterwards to put it out of its suffering.”
According to onlookers, the eel was returned to the river, apparently alive and therefore, somehow, forgiven. However, Phoebe* fears the stress of the incident may have killed the eel after its release: “It definitely won’t [be alive] after living in piss and vomit for hours, poor thing. I feel like it’s definitely going to [die].” That being said, it was released into the Leith, which isn’t exactly the cleanest, either.
While hazing remains a tradition of studentville’s party streets, Rosa insists it's “entirely possible” to carry out initiations without hurting people or animals, and offered to help grow the boys’ empathy: “I volunteer to piss and vomit on them to help them understand.” But if we know anything about initiations, they’ve probably beaten her to it.
*Names changed.