A woman in China was caught on camera grabbing a peacock for a photo. At a local zoo, she grabbed the bird’s feathers and pinned the animal down to take a photo. The zoo has spoken out before about this kind of treatment from tourists towards animals.

According to the Daily Mail, the incident took place at Yunnan Safari Park in south-eastern China. Zookeepers have said that peacocks are regularly touched and grabbed by visitors and that they are trying to stop the practice. A Weibo user uploaded the video to social media and wrote, “Tourists are torturing a peacock and violently plucking some of its feathers! The peacock is wailing.”

The zoo confirmed the incident to the Daily Mail, “We had visitors reporting to us about the incident on that day. Peacocks’ feathers look the nicest in April and May. Some visitors would then break our rules [by touching the peacocks]. We’ve been trying to stop these [incidents] all the time, but some tourists are really outrageous.” The peacock was not harmed but some of its feathers were missing.

Watch the video below:

The zoo has had multiple instances of visitors getting too close to peacocks and looking to pose for photos or take feathers from them. Animal rights activists are fighting to close zoos because it’s cruel to keep animals in captivity. Zoos have often taken animals from the wild and kept them in cages to profit from. While many zoos note their conservation value, many are for profit.

Help end cruel acts toward animals by signing this petition to ban animal abuse in China.

Speak Up Tee By Tiny Rescue: Animal Collection

Read and learn more about why zoos are not happy places for animals:

• What Keeping Polar Bears in Zoos and Aquariums Does to These Animals Will Shock You
• Zookeeper Attacked by Tiger is Further Proof that Wild Animals Don’t Belong in Captivity
• Zoochosis and the Many Ways We Have Failed Zoo Animals
• Zoochosis: What Really Happens to Animals in Captivity (VIDEO)
• The Truth About the Lives of Animals in Captivity Versus the Wild
•  How Zoos are Distorting Our View of the Natural World
• These Were the 10 Worst U.S. Zoos for Elephants in 2017 – Let’s Change This In 2018! (VIDEO)
• 7 Lessons We Really Should Be Learning From Zoos
• Think Zoos Are Fun Places? You Need to Watch This Video

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