Baby monkey "smoking" and pretending to be dead. Photo: screenshot of a post by The Paper on Sina Weibo.

There are plenty of ways to warn the public that "smoking kills," but shooting a video of a monkey smoking isn't one of them. A video of a baby monkey smoking and pretending to be dead was recently posted on a short video platform by a zoo in Hengshui, North China's Hebei Province, drawing huge controversy as netizens accused the zoo of abusing animals to attract public attention.

In the video, a baby monkey sat on a bench with a lighted cigarette in its mouth, frequently blinking its eyes due to the smoke. It rubbed its eyes and then lay down on the ground, hinting its "death." As people came to cover the monkey with a white sheet, the words "smoking kills" appeared on the screen. 

It has been found that the monkey was not the only victim. Previous videos posted by the zoo's account showed a man rapidly swinging a rope where a monkey had desperately clung to, leading to it screaming in horror. 

The short video platform has banned the zoo's account for seven days. Local authorities have asked the zoo to rectify questioned operations.

Global Times