It is natural for predators to hunt their prey using sharp teeth and claws, but such bloody and ferocious scenes feel out place when they unfold at a zoo.

Visitors to Jiangsu Yancheng Wild Animal World in Changzhou on June 5 were more terrified than amused when they saw a donkey eaten alive by tigers, after the donkey was pushed into a river near the tigers' den.

"Two tigers immediately swam up to the donkey and bit its neck," wrote a netizen, whose post on a local online forum immediately drew attention. Photos from the post showed that the donkey was carried to the river from a truck, which was loaded with other animals including sheep. The men who threw the donkey were also allegedly trying to throw the sheep in as well, but were stopped by the zoo's guards and some visitors.

"It may be normal to feed tigers live animals to imitate life in the wild, but it usually happens in the evening when the zoo is closed. This will scare children," commented a netizen.

"I was shocked when I saw that. I have never seen anything like that before. I myself could not take it," a visitor surnamed Li told Nanjing newspaper Modern Express.

A zoo employee later explained that the "feeding" was not conducted by the zoo itself, but by a stockholder of the zoo, as the zoo had all its assets frozen by a local court after a liability court case in 2016.

"The stockholder may be dissatisfied with the court's ruling, hence the aggressive behavior," said the employee.

The zoo's surveillance footage shows that the stockholder tried to bring the truckload of animals out of the zoo, but was stopped as he was not licensed. Based on the footage, a quarrel then appears to have ensued. The truck was eventually driven to the tiger's den, where the donkey was sacrificed, Modern Express reported.