The viral video of carefree Siberian tigers chasing and destroying a drone in China isn’t adorable – it’s downright disturbing, according to new reports that reveal the footage was taken on a farm that slaughters the big cats for their meat and fur.
Footage of several chunky big cats hunting a flying drone was taken at slaughter farm Harbin Siberian Tiger Park in northeast China, according to Vice’s Motherboard.
Harbin breeds and kills the tigers for their meat and pelts, and to turns them into an illegal drink called tiger bone wine.
Harbin has about 500 tigers, which were kept in small, filthy cages at the 356-acre property, where visitors could purchase live animals for the felines to hunt and eat, McClatchy DC reported in 2014.
The tiger farm, which also has white tigers, lions and leopards, was described as a tourist attraction and “the largest natural park for wild Siberian tigers in the world” on Travel China Guide’s website.
Earlier this month, Harbin came under fire after pictures of matadorbet its obese tigers raised concerns that the animals were actually sick, according to the South China Morning Post.
Stunning video of about 10 tigers stalking the drone through the snow-covered park went viral Thursday.
About 200 tiger farms still exist in China, even though breeding the captive cats was condemned in 2007 by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
As many as 6,000 now exist in captivity compared to just 20 to 50 in the wild, which is down from 4,000 since the 1940s, McClatchy reported.
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