TOKYO (TR) – It escalated quickly.
On December 20, a woman believed to be a foreigner was spotted feeding birds on display at Ueno Zoo in Taito Ward without permission.
When a man saw this and warned her, the woman reportedly assaulted him and shouted abuse, reports Fuji News Network (Dec. 30).
In a video shown by the network — which was shot by the man — she repeatedly reaches out toward the birdhouse. to feed the birds the food that she had brought with her.
“Probably like homemade rice balls,” the man said of the food. “She was feeding them to the birds.”
When the man saw this and warned her to stop, the woman did something even more surprising.
“She suddenly became furious. She punched me in the stomach,” he said.
However, that was not the end of it — she also yelled out abusive language in Japanese. “Die,” “You shit,” and “Don’t mess with me.”
The man then called the police. However, by the time of the arrival of police, the woman had left the scene.
Black-billed magpie
A reporter for the network found warning signs in not only Japanese but also English and Chinese on the cages, warning people not to feed the birds.
According to the zoo, the bird the woman was feeding is a black-billed magpie. The bird, an omnivore, is a type of crow.
The reporter asked a zoo staffer about whether such feeding was safe.
Yasumasa Tomita, the vice director of Ueno Zoo, said, “We feed the animals the amount of food that is set in order to manage their health. Please stop feeding them.”
