A visitor to a zoo in Liaoning province was killed last week after a walrus decided that instead of taking a selfie, it wanted to play in the pool.
According to Sina, a businessman surnamed Jia visited the Yeshanko Wildlife Zoo in northeastern China’s Weihai city. During his visit he snapped pics, took selfies and recorded videos with the various zoo animals and then posted them on his WeChat for friends to see.
In the last video that Jia shot, he is standing right beside an enormous 1-ton walrus. Jia exclaims: “Look at this walrus, so strong, so big!”
Not long after, the walrus grabbed Jia’s back with his jaws and dragged into him the pool where he was drowned to death. A zookeeper jumped into the water to try to save Jia, but he was also drowned by the walrus. There is speculation that the walrus was just trying to “play” and give the men a “hug.” The zookeeper had been looking after the walrus for more than 10 years, since the animal was just a baby.
A video of the walrus enclosure has since gone viral online, causing netizens to wonder how this kind of thing hadn’t happened sooner. One walkway is protected by only a simple barrier, while tourists are apparently also welcome to walk around the rim of the enclosure, along the sea, with no barriers on either side.
While most netizens have attacked the zoo for its total lack of safety precautions, a few netizens have chimed in by posting pictures of their positive experiences taking selfies with walruses, that didn’t end up with them dragged into a pool and held underwater by a 1-ton beast.
A close friend of Jia is one of those that has slammed the zoo for its lack of safety precautions. “My brother didn’t fall into that pool, he was dragged by the beast. Large wild animals aren’t predictable, even if they are normally calm,” he told a local paper.
The zoo has taken responsibility for the accident and has paid Jia’s family 900,000 yuan in compensation.
In the future, please don’t try to do the moonwalk with walruses.
[Images via Weibo]
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