'Awful to watch': Horrific family brawl at zoo even stuns the animals
Shocking footage of a violent fight between families touring a Chinese zoo has been shared online.
The trivial argument between two visitors on Sunday (local time) led to an all-out brawl involving at least six people, including a woman holding a young boy, Beijing Wildlife Park said in a statement.
Video of the incident, which occurred in the gorilla area, has gone viral after being posted to social media site Weibo.
The woman holding the toddler can be seen repeatedly kicking another woman as she tries to fight off a third woman on the ground.
Two men wrestle in the background as a circle of others try to pull them off each other.
At one point, the woman with the child grabs a handful of another woman's hair, prompting a man to charge over and kick her to the ground.
Bystanders, including young kids, watch the brawl in horror.
Beijing Wildlife Park said security guards were able to break up the brawl.
"They shouted at each other, tore at each other and many tourists and animals were watching. The two sides reached a settlement after mediation," the park authority said on WeChat, the Global Times reported.
Animals try to copy human fight scene
The park said some animals had never witnessed a fight between humans and “followed suit” later that night.
"Under the patient education of the keeper, [we believe] animals knew that fighting was not good," the park said, the publication reported.
This biffo at the Beijing wild animal zoo between a couple of families prompted a statement from the zoo. It said the fighting left a deep impression on some nearby animals who copied the humans and had to be taught by staff that fighting isn’t good behaviour. 笑死我了😂 pic.twitter.com/3X9KcsmSCR
— Bill Birtles (@billbirtles) August 8, 2021
Shocked viewers said on Twitter that the footage of the fight is “pretty awful to watch”.
“It's a toss-up between what was more unexpected, the woman kicking the other woman and pulling her hair while holding a baby, or the man who jump-kicked the woman holding the baby,” one woman said.
“Not sure who learns from whom,” another person wrote.
