Alpacas, mini pigs on the loose after floods hit south China zoo

Typhoon Maysak battered southern and central China, killing 39 people in Guangxi and forcing 130,000 residents to evacuate. (AFP pic)

BEIJING: At least 100 animals, including alpacas, miniature pigs and zebras, escaped a zoo in southern China’s Guangxi region after floods damaged their enclosures.

Typhoon Maysak has ravaged southern and central China this week, killing 39 people in Guangxi and forcing the evacuation of 130,000.

The province’s Guigang Zoo asked the public Wednesday for help in finding its escaped animals, saying some enclosures had been damaged by “continuous heavy rainfall”.

It provided a list of missing creatures, including “two North American raccoons, four porcupines and thirty peacocks”, according to a statement posted by a local district’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau.

The zoo said some of the escapees “may be frightened and potentially aggressive”.

“If you spot any of the animals, please keep a safe distance,” the statement said.

“Do not attempt to catch, approach or tease them, as this could be dangerous,” the zoo warned.

Meanwhile, videos of villagers knee-deep in floodwater and frantically trying to catch snakes swimming in a flooded Guangxi town with their bare hands and nets went viral on social media this week.

Wu Zhi, the head of a local village committee, told state-owned media Red Star News that around 800 to 900 snakes escaped on Monday after a breeding farm was washed away in Hengzhou city.

The city “immediately bolstered its reserves of medical resources and urgently expanded the stock of antivenom” at the local hospital, state broadcaster CCTV reported.