This is the college student who was filmed biting the head off a live hamster, DailyMail.com can reveal.

Brady Eaves, 18, is a University of Mississippi scholar, Phi Delta Theta fraternity brother, star football player, and stepson of one-time Mississippi Governor candidate John Arthur Eaves Jr, who is now an esteemed pro-life lawyer.

Sources close to Eaves told DailyMail.com he was top of his class at private Jackson Preparatory School, and described him as an 'animal lover' whose numerous pets include a raccoon and a parrot.

However, on Saturday the teenager from Madison, MS, swept the internet in a video that showed him pull a hamster from a cage, bite off its head, and hurl its body into the distance - shrieking with laughter.

According to sources connected to the incident, the party of college students force-fed the hamster vodka and 'hot-boxed' its cage with marijuana before the sickening stunt.

The footage, allegedly filmed during a drunken spring break party in Florida, could see Eaves charged with felony animal cruelty charges, which carry a maximum jail term of five years and $5,000 in fines.

His stepfather John Arthur Eaves Jr, a born-again Christian who was slammed for blaming unemployment on the state's Hispanic population during his 2007 election campaign, has yet to respond to DailyMail.com's request for a comment.

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT - SCROLL DOWN FOR EXCLUSIVE VIDEO

Pictured: This is Brady Eaves (right), the privately-educated fraternity brother, described by friends as an 'animal lover', who was filmed biting the head off a live hamster during a drunken spring break party

Horrific: This video shows University of Mississippi student Brady Eaves, 18, biting the head off a live hamster at a spring break party in Florida. The stunt could see him charged with felony animal cruelty

A censored picture of the hamster's head and front arms shared exclusively with DailyMail.com via Snapchat

Elite family: His stepfather is John Arthur Eaves Jr, pictured with his mother Angel Eaves, during the 2007 campaign for governor of Mississippi. Eaves Jr, the Democratic candidate, lost and is now a pro-life lawyer

Now CEO of Eaves Law Firm in Jackson, Mississippi, Eaves Jr has unsuccessfully run for state governor and U.S. Congress.

He lost to the Republican incumbent Haley Barbour, winning 42 per cent of the vote, following controversial claims about the state's growing Latino population.

His clients today include victims of the Costa Concordia cruise boat crash. He has three sons from his first marriage, and a young daughter with Brady's mother, advertising executive Angel Eaves, in leafy Madison, MS.

In the video, his stepson Brady is surrounded by friends in beachwear who shriek with laughter as he pulls the animal from a blue cage.

He is a star soccer player with a scholarship at the University of Mississippi where he is a Phi Delt brother

Eaves (circled) is pictured at Jackson Preparatory School after winning his scholarship to college

Graphic: He bites, spits, then throws the rest of the animal over a fence. Sources close to Eaves described him as an 'animal lover' who has numerous pets including a raccoon and a parrot at home in Madison, MS

Beaming: Eaves, and other party-goers, shriek with laughter and beam gleefully into the camera. Sources told DailyMail.com the students force-fed the hamster vodka and 'hot-boxed' its cage with marijuana

The footage starts with the voice of one party-goer balking: 'Oh my f***ing God! No way!'

Others can be heard jeering: 'So good! So good!'

Hurling the hamster over a fence, Eaves bellows a yell as others are seen grinning and laughing behind him.

The video was uploaded to YouTube on Friday night under the name 'psycho drunk spring breaker bites head off of hamster'.

Within minutes, it was removed from the video-sharing site for violating its codes of conduct.

Caching the video, animal rights group PETA launched a manhunt to track Eaves down.

Screaming: Eaves bellows a yell and smiles into the camera as party-goers look on open-mouthed

Stephanie Bell, PETA's Cruelty Casework Director, told DailyMail.com they plan to press charges.

'It is horrific. We don't know who this man is but we are working to track him down and prosecute,' Bell said.

'Animal abuse is a community concern. People who abuse animals rarely do so only once and almost never stop there.

'The link between cruelty to animals and inter-personal violence is undeniable. Many of our nation's serial killers and most school shooters share a history of animal abuse.