Unruly tourist forces a peacock to pose for a picture with her

A Chinese woman has been caught on camera forcing a peacock to pose for a picture with her in a zoo by grabbing the bird’s feathers aggressively.

Social media footage from Monday shows the unruly tourist pinning down the peacock for a snap as the distressed animal struggles to get away at Yunnan Safari Park in south-eastern China.

Another male visitor reportedly plucked some of the peacock’s feathers and gave them to his child to play with, according to the web user who uploaded the clip.

A zookeeper from the wildlife park said that such incidents happen all the time and the staff are struggling to prevent them.

It comes as another peacock from the same zoo was believed to have died from shock after tourists held the animal in their arms by force in 2016. 

The video was first uploaded on May 4 by a Weibo user who was believed to have witnessed the incident.

He wrote in the post: ‘Tourists are torturing a peacock and violently plucking some of its feathers! The peacock is wailing.’

The clip shows the Chinese woman chasing the peacock before clutching onto the bird’s feathers to force the animal to take a picture with her.

The animal can be seen flapping its wings as and struggling to escape from the tourist.

The witness also said that a man ‘held down the peacock tightly and plucked some feathers for his kid to play with’.

The clip shows the Chinese woman chasing the peacock before clutching onto the bird’s feathers to force the animal to take a picture with her

Another male visitor reportedly plucked some of the peacock’s feathers and gave them to his child to play with. Pictured, a peacock displays its plumage as part of a traditional courtship ritual in a park in London

A staff member confirmed the incident to the press and said that the zoo is scrambling to stop such incidents which happen very often. 

‘We had visitors reporting to us about the incident on that day,’ an anonymous zookeeper said.  

‘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 zoo said that the peacock was not severely harmed but some of its feathers were missing, according to The Beijing News. 

MailOnline has contacted the wildlife park for further comments. 

A staff member confirmed the incident to the press and said that the zoo is scrambling to stop such incidents which happen very often. Peacocks are seen playing at the Shuanglonghu Wetland Park in Shandong province, China, on May 2

The disturbing footage comes after another peacock from the same zoo has reportedly died from shock after visitors held the bird in their arms by force four years ago. The picture from February 16, 2016, shows the peacock being held by tourists before it died

The disturbing footage comes after another peacock from the same zoo has reportedly died from shock after visitors held the bird in their arms by force four years ago.

A five-year-old male peacock died within half an hour after three groups of visitors violently grabbed the animal to pose for pictures on February 16, 2016, Chinese media report.

The Yunnan Safari Park recently came under criticism after offering visitors fishing poles to feed captive tigers in a so-called ‘interactive programme’.

An appalling video in early April shows a group of tourists – some are children – leaning against a balcony while swinging their fishing poles attached with raw meat to attract the tigers on the ground.

The zoo has since cancelled the activity permanently after the footage sparking widespread outrage on Chinese social media.