Chinese theme park's bungee-jumping pig stunt sparks anger on social media

A theme park in southwest China celebrated the opening of its bungee jump by pushing a live pig off a 70-metre platform. Photo / Weibo

A video of a live pig bungee jumping off a 70-metre-high platform to celebrate the opening of a theme park has sparked fury on social media.

In the footage, which was uploaded to Weibo – China's Twitter-like service – on Saturday (local time) the 75kg animal is seen tied to a pole being carried by two men to the top of a metal stairway.

A theme park in southwest China celebrated the opening of its bungee jump by pushing a live pig off a 70-metre platform. Photo / Weibo

Once at the top, the men truss the animal with the bungee ropes, tie a purple cape around its shoulders and push it over the edge, South China Morning Post reports.

As the animal plummets to the ground, people can be heard laughing and cheering.

But many people on social media didn't get the joke.

"I don't see anything funny in it," a person wrote on Weibo.

"Why were there people laughing? Just because the animal can't express fear doesn't mean it is not afraid."

Another suggested replacing the pig with the owner of the theme park.

"To tie up its boss and throw him down would be much more entertaining," the person said.

According to a report on Thecover.cn, the stunt was arranged to mark the opening of a bungee jump at the Mexin Wine Town theme park in southwest China's Chongqing municipality,

The park's unnamed owner tried to make light of the incident.

People cheered as the animal plummeted to the ground. Photo / Weibo

"It's our opening day today. We let the pig make the first jump because pork prices have been very high this year and recently they dropped a bit," she said.

The owner said the stunt was also staged to mark the end of the Year of the Pig and the dawn of the Year of the Rat, which begins on Saturday.

China does not have any laws to protect animal rights, but there have been increasing calls from welfare groups in recent years for legislation to prevent abuse.

After its enforced bungee jump, the pig was seen being dragged away from the scene.

A public relations worker at the park said the animal was destined to be served up at a Lunar New Year banquet and that it was "normal" for them to experience shock on their way to slaughter.

Its ordeal was "just a bit of entertainment", he said.

- South China Morning Post