Panzhihua Park zoo in Sichuan Province, China accused of fattening its animals after burst of visitors

The zoo hit the headlines when footage was released showing its moon bear with its legs crossed leisurely, lying flat on its back at its home in Panzhihua Park, located in Sichuan Province, in south-western China.

It was then revealed that they had a fat leopard, which they promised to slim down before later admitting that they had given up on a diet, explaining that the big cat was too old.

Zoo officials decided it was not fair to try and force the 16-year-old leopard that is being compared to Officer Clawhauser in the Disney animated film Zootopia to lose weight.

They said they had decided to let it continue to enjoy its life, and now it appears that other animals have also been overfed and ended up much larger than they would ever manage in the wild.

New video footage includes an overweight peacock and fresh videos of the large leopard and tubby bear.

The zoo boasts that the money earned from ticket prices is all spent on feeding the animals, which many people pointed out was probably the reason why obesity appeared to be a problem among some of the inhabitants.

Online commentators noted that the zoo should be renamed as the "experimental pig breeding farm" and noted that ticket prices had increased 50% because so many people were turning up. The zoo denied, however, that they are overfeeding animals, saying that the problem is they don't have enough space to move around, and that's why they put on weight.

Sun Quanhui, a senior scientific adviser at World Animal Protection, told local media that the very least they could do was make sure that the leopard had to work to find the food, putting it in difficult-to-reach places.

Leopards can live up to 17 years in the wild and, in captivity, have been known to live up to 23 years.

A zoo spokesman added that as long as the leopard was happy, that was the main thing.

Online commentators like 'H' said: "I really give a big thumbs up to this zoo. The animals in other zoos are so skinny."

And user 'Prejudice' said: "I hope I can be reborn in Panzhihua Zoo in my next life."

While the user 'People' said: "So cute, I want to touch it."

Story: Newsflash/NewsX