TERRIFYING mobile phone footage has captured the moment a zoo employee was attacked by an enraged zebra and violently dragged into the bushes.
The dramatic incident took place at the Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou, capital of South China’s Guangdong Province - and the viral video comes just days after a male tourist was mauled to death by a tiger in an East China zoo.
In the 15-second clip, which has since been viewed tens of millions of times on China’s popular microblogging site Sina Weibo, tourists can be heard gasping as the zebra clamps its teeth into the zoo employee’s arm.
The man, surnamed Li, stumbles and falls to the ground as the animal drags him along, and a number of other employees can be seen chasing after the zebra with sticks to save their colleague.
Chimelong Safari Park confirmed the incident in a public statement and said Li had only suffered "minor injuries".
He was also freed within two minutes of the sudden attack, the reasons behind which are still unclear, reports said.
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The zoo also noted that the incident happened at the end December last year, refuting claims that the zebra attack took place "today", which would have been just three days since the fatal tiger attack in Ningbo City’s Youngor Zoo, in East China’s Zhejiang Province.
Chimelong Safari Park also said it would be releasing a video statement from the employee himself in order to prove that he is alright and already back at work.
Netizens have been overwhelmed by the recent revelations involving animal violence, which began last summer when a woman left her car at a Beijing tiger park and was mauled to death a few moments later.
ARE ZEBRAS VIOLENT?
Zebras usually run away at the first sign of trouble but in certain situations can be savage.
They have a strong bite and a kick powerful enough to kill wild dogs. They become violent if they believe a predator is threatening the herd and will fight to protect the young. The unpredictable animals are not domesticated and can panic if they feel they are in danger. Stallions can also become violent during mating. The stallions fight each other over mares and mares fight to mate with the stallion.
Yesterday it was reported that grieving relatives of the dad-of-two mauled to death by three tigers have blasted the lax security that allowed him climb into the enclosure.
They reportedly claim zoo management should shoulder the blame for gaps in supervision of the fences which may have tempted the man to skip paying by hopping over.
The pair were pictured on top of the barrier just moments before the attack.
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