A zookeeper has been sacked after a video was posted online showing him beating a South China tiger cub, a near extinct subspecies, Nanchang Zoo in East China's Jiangxi Province said yesterday.

A zookeeper has been sacked after a video was posted online showing him beating a South China tiger cub, a near extinct subspecies, Nanchang Zoo in East China's Jiangxi Province said yesterday.

The video showed a man clicking his fingers on the cub's head on Monday and later that day allowing a friend to play with it. It also recorded an incident the next day where the keeper grabbed it by a front leg and shook it until it fell to the ground.

On its website, the zoo said: "We found misconduct on the part of one of our zoo keepers and he let someone who doesn't work for the zoo to enter the nursing room, which violates our rules."

It added: "After a physical check, we found the cub is fine without injuries. It is healthy and another skilled zoo keeper has been assigned to take care of it."

There are about 100 South China tigers in captivity in China and in the wild are close to extinction.

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