Animals in zoos had a less than relaxing holiday amid the Spring Festival hustle and bustle, with pigs overfed by tourists and peacocks and a panda scared by loud fireworks.

 

During the week-long lunar New Year holiday, mini-pigs kept in the Shanghai Wild Zoo met an overwhelming 20,000 visitors every day, up 20 percent compared to the same period last year, said a zoo manager.

 

Tourists wanted to get near the pigs and were eager to feed the chubby porkers, which are considered symbols of luck and good fortune in the Year of Pig. The over-fed animals were arranged to take shifts to meet visitors after they invariably showed digestive difficulties including constipation and diarrhea.

 

In central China's Hubei Province, zoos were not overwhelmed by tourists, but rather disturbed by rocking firework explosions.     

 

A giant panda named Qing Qing in the Wuhan Zoo had a sleepless night on Chuxi, or the lunar New Year's Eve. The panda became restless around midnight, when fireworks climaxed, said Gu Zhiqiang, a zookeeper.

 

The zookeeper gave up watching the CCTV gala show and managed to calm down the startled animal by feeding it and stroking its head, but the panda did not go to sleep until dawn.

 

That same night, five peacocks fled the zoo amid raucous explosions; one peacock was later found near a hotel but four others are still missing.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 26, 2007)