Zoo elephant eats a plastic bag thrown by a tourist who ignored the ‘no-feeding’ sign 

Heart-breaking moment zoo elephant eats a plastic bag thrown by a tourist who ignored the ‘no-feeding’ sign

  • Footage shows the captive elephant picking up the plastic bag at a Chinese zoo
  • The white wrapper carrying an apple was tossed into the enclosure by a visitor
  • Despite the zoo’s ‘no-feeding’ sign, such incidents are said to occur frequently
  • The animal excreted the bag and is in normal condition, according to the park

A heart-wrenching video has captured the moment an elephant ate a plastic bag thrown by an unruly tourist at a Chinese zoo.

The animal picked up the white wrapper carrying an apple after it was tossed into the enclosure by a visitor who ignored the ‘no-feeding’ sign at the Kunming Zoo in southwest China, reported local media.

The wildlife park said the captive elephant was in normal condition after they fed the animal some digestive medicine to help it pass it.

A heart-wrenching video has captured the moment an elephant ate a plastic bag thrown by an unruly tourist at the Kunming Zoo in south-western Chinese province Yunnan on October 7

The captive animal picked up the white wrapper carrying an apple after it was tossed into the enclosure by a visitor who ignored the ‘no-feeding sign’ at the Kunming Zoo

The captive animal picked up the white wrapper carrying an apple after it was tossed into the enclosure by a visitor who ignored the ‘no-feeding sign’ at the Kunming Zoo

Footage shows the captive elephant picking up the plastic bag at a Chinese zoo

The white wrapper carrying an apple was tossed into the enclosure by a visitor

The heart-breaking moment was captured by another tourist, known by his surname Chen, who witnessed the event at the Kunming Zoo in Yunnan province on Wednesday

The heart-breaking moment was captured by another tourist, known by his surname Chen, who witnessed the event at the Chinese zoo on Wednesday.

Footage obtained by Kunming Television shows the captive elephant being displayed to visitors when a white plastic bag carrying something inside was thrown into the enclosure.

A male visitor can be heard in the background saying: ‘[They] even threw a plastic bag at it. It would be troublesome if it eats it.’

The unknowing animal is seen picking up the wrapper with its trunk before swallowing the whole thing.

The man shouted: ‘Oh no, [it] ate the plastic bag!’ 

Such incidents happened frequently despite the zoo put up multiple signs banning tourists from throwing food to feed the animals. The picture shows one of the signs at the zoo

Such incidents happened frequently despite the zoo put up multiple signs banning tourists from throwing food to feed the animals. The picture shows one of the signs at the zoo

An apple is believed to have been wrapped inside the white plastic bag, Mr Chen told the local station. The picture released by local media shows tourists visiting the zoo in Kunming

An apple is believed to have been wrapped inside the white plastic bag, Mr Chen told the local station. The picture released by local media shows tourists visiting the zoo in Kunming

The wildlife park (pictured) in Kunming, Yunnan province, said the captive elephant was in normal condition after they fed the animal some digestive medicine to help it defecate

The wildlife park (pictured) in Kunming, Yunnan province, said the captive elephant was in normal condition after they fed the animal some digestive medicine to help it defecate

An apple is believed to have been wrapped inside the white plastic bag, Mr Chen told the local station on Thursday.

‘I thought the elephant would pick [the apple from the bag] but it ate it all together,’ the witness added. 

The elephant is said to be in normal condition, according to the wildlife park. 

But such incidents happened frequently despite the zoo put up multiple signs banning tourists from throwing food to feed the animals.

‘Because the elephants are quite large, they have larger stomachs and intestines,’ Wang Ang, a staff member at the Kunming Zoo, told reporters.

‘After we discovered that it ate something by mistake, we would add some digestive medicine to its food. Most of the time, it would be discharged normally the next morning,’ the zookeeper added.

Mr Wang said that the park had assigned security guards and tightened patrolling to avoid such incidents from occurring.

No punishment has been given to the unruly visitor as the incident ‘had not caused any actual harm’, another spokesperson from the park told Shanghai-based news site The Paper.

‘Because we are not an administrative institution, we could only give [them] a reprimand,’ the anonymous staff member said.