A tiger cub attacked a rabbit at a zoo in China on Saturday during a ‘rabbit and tiger handover ceremony’ as part of the zoo’s Chinese New Year’s celebration.
In a video shared by news platform Mothership, the tiger cub is seen sniffing the rabbit and then trying to bite and grab him. Staff are heard screaming on camera to pull the animals apart. The video then cuts off.
The animals are then seen held separately by zookeepers. Different news media in China reported that the rabbit was ok as the zookeepers from Linfen Zoo were able to pull the tiger off the rabbit on time.
On Sunday, the Year of the Tiger (2022) ended, and the Year of the Rabbit (2023) started in China, Japan and other East Asian countries. Vietnam celebrated the Year of the Cat. There is no official explanation for why the Vietnamese embrace the cat instead of the rabbit.
Tiger cub bites rabbit as China zookeepers try symbolic passing of zodiac baton for CNY 2023 pic.twitter.com/fnuqPUunYf
— Mothership.sg (@MothershipSG) January 22, 2023
