A rare and once in a life-time encounter was caught on video, showing spectators reaching out and touching a grey whale.

They could be breaking the law.

While the whale watchers in the video were thrilled with the prospect of petting a whale in the wild, spokesperson for the Center for Biological Diversity, Steve Jones, is quite the opposite.

His initial reaction?

“Uh, kind of appalled. Especially because it’s being presented as, ‘how cute, you can pet the whales.’”

That’s because it might be illegal.