Visitor trash kills wildlife park deer

Four kilograms of plastic packaging killed a deer in Haicang wildlife park, a popular tourist destination in the city of Xiamen, East China's Fujian province on February 17.

When vets examined the dead male deer, they found 4 kilograms of plastic, evidently food and beverage packaging and wrapping.

An identical tragedy occurred six years ago. The fallow deer is a ruminant, vets told the Xiamen-based Haixi Morning Post, meaning the bags could not be chewed up or excreted from the intestine.

Plastic accumulates until the stomach is blocked and the deer dies. It was unclear in the report why staff did not notice or monitor the issue.

A female fallow deer will have surgery for an obstructed stomach "soon," the report said. The park has erected a 3-meter-tall sign, "For animals, plastic bags are murder weapons," to remind tourists of their responsibilities.