The children's parents watched on laughing as they chased treasure Jake the cockerel around Tropical Wings Zoo in Essex.

 

Eyewitnesses² said the terrified bird ran into a tree and collapsed³ dead in front of other horrified⁴ families.

 

Zoo bosses watched the drama unfold on CCTV and raced to the scene, but the family had fled.

 

Other visitors handed over photographs of the parents and they are being circulated to zoos across the UK.

 

Manager Jay Wood said: "Some kids were behaving incredibly badly and harassed the cockerel so much that he ran into hiding.

 

"Sadly while doing that, he ran into a tree and unfortunately passed away.

 

"It's very upsetting to see and hear about such behaviour in our zoo.

 

"We don't tolerate that behaviour to our animals, staff or other guests. It's sad to think that anybody thinks its okay to come into our zoo and generally behave that way.

 

"The children's behaviour is one thing, but the parent's behaviour is another. It's just very upsetting."

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