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Tigers that ate a drone for fun reportedly live in a terrible place

Tigers that ate a drone for fun reportedly live in a terrible place

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tigers eating a drone

Making the rounds on various British news outlets this morning: a video of a bunch of Siberian tigers chasing down a drone and ripping it out of the sky. Wow, it’s such a good video. All the beautiful tigers look up at the sky and run around. Eventually they get the drone, and get their heart rates up in the process. Good for them. Good for me.

Update: Unfortunately, several hours after watching and enjoying this video, I learned that the footage was recorded at the Harbin Siberian Tiger Park in China, which is reportedly a really messed up tourist attraction that profits off selling tiger bones and tiger pelts. As reported by Motherboard, this viral video is actually very depressing, as the tigers are at a farm which has long masqueraded as a rescue. These tigers will most likely die.

According to a caption on the BBC website, the tigers are being lured into exercise by a trainer who is operating the drone. The caption doesn’t totally explain the content of the video, which is mostly of these tigers beginning to eat the drone, then recoiling from it after it starts smoking. I suppose you’ll have to fill in your own context for those plot points, as the video is not accompanied by a news story of any kind. And thank Motherboard for filling in the other plot points.

If you choose to watch this video on the BBC site, you’ll notice some suggestions for further viewing. They’re called “When a bear gets trapped in your car” and “Violent end to goat-tiger friendship.” I watched them both. They’re not good like this video.

I don’t like watching a bear struggle to get out of a car, nor do I like watching the inherent violence of the natural world take place in front of my eyes. I like watching nature rebel against technologies built by man, as a way of sweetly reminding us that we are not that cool or smart. That’s why my favorite movies are, in order from least to most favorite: Jurassic World, Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park III, and Blair Witch (2016). On that note, I wish the tigers would escape from this park.

Unfortunately I can’t really enjoy this video anymore, knowing where it came from and where these tigers are headed. I guess this is why you should be careful what you share when enjoying viral content that isn’t contextualized.

Update February 23rd 4:00 PM: Updated to include information about the video’s origins.