Peacocks in zoo die from shock after Chinese tourists’ ‘violent behaviour’, picking them up and plucking out their feathers

The “violent behaviour” of Chinese tourists has led to the death of two peacocks at a city zoo, mainland media reports.

The two birds are believed to have died from shock after visitors picked them up to pose with them in photographs and plucked out their feathers at Yunnan Zoo – also known as Yunnan Wild Animal Park – in Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan province, the newspaper WCC Daily reported on Sunday.

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Photographs taken by one visitor at the zoo, which were circulated online, show tourists holding up a peacock as they pose for photographs.

The newspaper report said the zoo had confirmed two peacocks had died.

The report also said that some visitors had plucked out the feathers of the peacocks.

Yunnan Zoo confirmed that one of its peacocks had died on February 12 – during Lunar New Year – as a result of the “violent behaviour” of tourists.

Although the cause of this peacock’s death was still under investigation, park officials said they believed they it had died because of shock after being held forcefully by visitors.