'Starved' Rare White Tiger Spotted 'Eating Soil' In Zoo

A "skinny" rare white Bengal tiger was caught on camera licking and eating soil in its enclosure at a zoo in China, sparking outrage. The video, which was shared on Chinese social media site Weibo, was taken by a shocked visitor.

The visitor, who identified himself as Wang, said the white tiger — an endangered animal species — was underfed. There was reportedly no food on the ground, but the tiger continued licking the soil and even started to chew it in its mouth.

The video was taken during Wang's recent trip to Wuhan Zoo in central China. "[The tiger] is so skinny it looks like a piece of firewood and so hungry it has to eat mud," it was captioned, adding that authorities must take a note of it and actions should be taken against the zoo. Wang also condemned the poor treatment of the animal by the zoo's staff.

However, the zoo denied claims it was underfeeding its tigers, saying that the animal was healthy.

The zoo’s official Weibo account also commented on Wang’s post, stating that the tiger had just been fed a whole chicken before the video was recorded. It also said that the animal most likely was just eating crumbs on the ground. The comment added that the tiger was seven years old and weighed approximately 260 pounds.

According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, the average weight for an adult Bengal tiger is 550 pounds.

A spokesperson for the zoo told Beijing Youth Daily that they had enough food supply for the tiger but "because it doesn't move around a lot, if it eats too much it will become too fat. If a person becomes fat, he or she will fall ill. It's the same for animals," the representative added.

White Bengal tigers are extremely rare in the wild and are listed as "endangered" by World Wildlife Fund.