Chongqing City’s Jiangbei Jialing Park recently experienced a mass death of ornamental fish in its fish pond, and the cause has been found to be poisoning.
On January 13, Chongqing city officials reported that a large number of ornamental fish died in the fish pond at Jiangbei Jialing Park due to the actions of Li (male, 48 years old), an operator of an amusement project in the park. Li, feeling discontent as the operator of the fish pond in the park opened a similar amusement project that gained better profits, poured leftover vegetable insecticide into the fish pond around 7:40 pm on the 11th, resulting in the death of a significant number of ornamental fish. Currently, Li has been criminally detained.
Many netizens from Chongqing shared videos on social media on the morning of the 12th, revealing that a large number of ornamental fish in a pond at Guanyinqiao Pedestrian Street in Jiangbei District suddenly died overnight, covering the entire pond. Some of the dead fish, as seen in leaked photos online, included koi fish.
According to reports on the 12th by Cover News, sanitation workers and officials from the local street office were still retrieving the dead fish from Jialing Park’s pond at noon on the 12th. Meanwhile, water pipes were connected to the pond for water replacement. Sanitation workers were individually bagging the retrieved dead fish, with approximately thirty woven bags filled with dead fish piled up on the shore.
Some residents expressed disbelief, stating, “I saw them swimming lively just last night (on the 11th), how did they all disappear overnight?”
Some onlookers speculated, “It may have been maliciously poisoned,” while others believed, “Perhaps there was an issue with the feed in this batch.”
Around the pond, multiple warning signs hung, stating, “The ornamental fish in the pond are privately fed for visitors’ viewing and interactive feeding. In order for the fish to grow in a sterile and healthy environment, visitors and pedestrians are prohibited from bringing fish feed or any food for feeding. If feeding is necessary, please purchase feed from the pond shop…”
Some residents mentioned that the ornamental fish in the pond had been living there for nearly a decade, numbering at least a few hundred.
The mass poisoning of ornamental fish sparked dissatisfaction among netizens.
One netizen, “Baieran0fs,” commented, “Competition among peers is fine, but there should be boundaries.”
“Xiaolu kl0” also remarked, “There are too many instances of peer competition. If everyone resorts to such ruthless methods, it harms everyone and the entire environment.”
Another netizen, “zhenyuejian,” said, “Regardless of the setting for poisoning, who the poisoning is targeted at, as long as the perpetrator knowingly causes harm to a large number of people or animals and allows or expects such consequences to occur, they should be charged with poisoning.”
“LoveLaughingGod” added, “Koi fish symbolize wealth, and it’s truly unimaginable that someone would resort to poisoning. Let’s all cherish small animals and provide them with a safe living environment.”