Some Chinese nationals who visited the Yunnan Wild Animal Park in Kunming, China on Feb. 12 are in hot water after some of its peacocks have died. Zoo officials have confirmed the deaths of the two birds and blamed "violent behavior" of the tourists for what happened.
According to Fox 5 News, the visitors were told by the zookeepers that touching the animals is prohibited. However, some people ignored this instruction and lured the birds to come to them by handing out food.
When the birds got near, the involved Chinese tourists quickly grabbed one and pose for pictures while holding it. The feathers of the peacocks were also said to have been plucked out.
The pictures taken by the tourists were posted online and it gained many negative comments, especially after learning that the animal in the photos had died due to carelessness and mishandling of the park's visitors.
As of Monday, Feb. 22, the report drew 20,000 comments which mostly condemned the acts of the tourists. Many others have also asked the zoo officials about what actions and steps that they are planning to take after the cruel incident.
Then again, although the zoo confirmed that two peacocks have died during the Spring Festival holiday, there is no official report about the cause of the birds' death since investigations are still ongoing. However, the authorities strongly believed that they perished because of the visitors' savage behavior of holding the animals too tightly. In addition, the other bird might have died from heart attack following a shock when his feathers were forcefully removed. Apparently, the act totally frightened the bird to death.
Through its representative, the Yunnan Wild Animal Park released a statement in connection with the issue: "The uncivilized behavior of visitors caused the death of a peacock, a preliminary investigation determined that the five-year-old bird was scared to death," Daily Mail UK quoted the rep as saying.
Finally, a witness also stepped in and relay what he saw to the local press, "When I went to see the peacock safari I saw several people forcefully pull the feathers off one bird, holding it tightly for pictures," the witness said.
Watch the video below for the report on the peacocks death in the zoo