Is pulling a tiger's tail a form of play or abuse? That's what the public and local authorities in southwest China's Guizhou Province want to know after a series of online videos was recently exposed.
The short clips, reportedly around 30 in number, were brought to light by a user on China's Twitter-like Weibo and show a man petting tigers, tugging their tails and even riding them as they crouched in their enclosures.
The man was later identified as one of the staff members at Guizhou Wildlife Park and the uploader of the footage on Kwai, a live-streaming platform with 300 million users.
It is believed that the man is the caretaker of the wild animals, and has been in contact with them since their early age – hence explaining why the tigers were not reacting aggressively to them being touched by him.
The videos have been removed since the exposé.
It is not clear whether the man took the videos down, or if the video-sharing app decided to delete them.
Kwai did not issue any comments on the issue.
The Weibo user who revealed the incidents told The Cover, an online news website in southwest China, that the man seems to be intentionally pulling on a tiger's tail.
"The earliest video was uploaded two months. I found them several days ago after they were recommended to me on the live-streaming platform," @Zuiaipangda added.
But the park categorically rejected that the stunts were instances of "abuse" – a label that netizens had used to describe the startling scenes, arguing that there are always two sides of the story.
"Everyone has their own angle and perception when watching the videos. It is normal for people to have different thoughts and recently there have been too much negative news on animals," a staff member of the park said in a telephone interview with The Cover on Wednesday, stressing that that was only her personal view.
It was not long before the park officially responded.
"What the exposed video clip shows is the staff member playing with the tiger" and ensuring the two-year-old beast in the video is able-bodied, the park said on Thursday.
The scenes left many wondering how could the man have approached the tigers with such cool nerves, especially after two high-profiles accidents including tigers attacking and mauling to death visitors at Chinese zoos.
Their questions were soon answered, as The Cover claimed to have gotten in touch with the man at the center of the ruckus via his account on QQ – a messaging application popular in China.
"Having been with tigers for so long, I am not worried about them attacking me," the man, who is reportedly an animal trainer, was quoted during the chat.
The commotion to which the issue has given rise prompted local authorities to announce they are sending a team to investigate the alleged mistreatment at the park.
Last year, revelations of cruelty to animals made headlines in China, shocking the whole country.
Circus animals in the city of Suzhou, east China's Anhui Province, were found to be suffering harm from their trainers during performances after photos and videos of bears, tigers and monkeys being mishandled emerged online.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Asia (PETA Asia) carried out its own investigation in the city notoriously known as "the homeland of circuses" – with 300 shows featuring wild animals.
China last year approved an amendment to the law on the protection of wildlife, according to which maltreatment of wild animals would be considered as criminal liability and the offender will be fined.
