Zookeeper Sacked For Ill-treating A Tiger Cub

Friday, 23 January 2015

Zookeeper Sacked For Ill-treating A Tiger Cub

According to CCTV News, A zookeeper has been fired after surveillance footage showed him torturing a tiger cub in a nursery room of Nanchang Zoo in Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province on Monday.

The one-month-old South China tiger cub is in good health, according to the zoo’s administration office.

In a video that went viral online since Wednesday, a man in red can be seen pinching the cub’s neck and hitting it in the face and head on Monday afternoon. He also let another man entered the room and dallied with the tiger baby.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The second part of the video shows that the man#abused the cub again in early Tuesday morning when he grabbed its neck and suspended it in the air, and swirled the animal in circles taking one of its paws before throwing it to the ground.

The zoo confirmed the authenticity of the video on Wednesday and said one of the two men involved is a breeder of the zoo and he has been dismissed for his inappropriate behavior to the animal and taking the liberty to let nonemployee enter the nurture room, according to a CNS report.

The zoo also said in its statement that it feels sorry for the loopholes in the breeding management, education and supervision on its breeders and it pledges to overhaul its management.

The South China tigers are listed as one of the world’s ten most endangered animals by World Conservation Union (IUCN). Believed to have been extinct in the wild and have only about 100 captive-bred in the world, they are also under China’s national first-class protection.

The trending video has sparked web users’ outrage online; here is a some of Chinese citiizens’ comments.

“A man like this should be put in jail.” @Sayami_kiko

“For a momentary fun, he bites the little tiger. But this is unforgettable for the tiger. It’s a humiliation for him.” @yejiabaoyuanzhang

“No matter it’s towards a protected animal or unprotected animal, abusing animals is wrong. This man is a psycho! Dismiss him? Not necessary. Why not bring his parents to meet with the cub’s parents and solve the issue face to face? ” @fuwenhuizi