A Thai woman by the name of Phonchanok Srisunaklua was attempting to grow her audience on YouTube, and might now be facing five years in jail, as she chose to eat a bat as part of a meal in one of her videos.

While consuming a bat is already bad enough, the reason behind her facing jail time is likely linked to the presumed thought that a consumed bat was the reason behind the coronavirus pandemic starting.

The woman, Phonchanok Srisunaklua, uploaded the video to her YouTube channel Gin Zap Bep Nua Nua, which roughly translates to "eat spicy and delicious" in English.

The video, which has since been removed from her channel, reportedly showed Srisunaklua eating a bowl of soup containing several Lesser Asiatic yellow bats, a protected species.

The woman that chose to eat the bat stated that she didn’t think it was that serious, as many of the people in her province had also consumed the winged creature.

She had reportedly purchased the bat at a market near the Laos border in Northern Thailand. The video has now sparked plenty of outrage, with one person commenting saying, “But you’ll be damned if you start a pandemic.”

The bats known as Asiatic yellow bats which were being consumed by Youtuber are a rare species in Thailand. The authorities have informed that she was held for possession of protected wildlife carcasses

The consumption of bat meat is very common in most parts of Asia and the Pacific Islands. But, in recent years, flying mammals have been identified as the source of various viral diseases which can spread to humans.