Guangxi Floods Devastate Zoo, Leave Thousands of Dead Pigs Floating at Submerged Farm
Days of torrential rain and reservoir failures in China’s Guangxi region have left widespread destruction, affecting not only tens of thousands of residents but also wildlife and livestock. A zoo in Guigang lost more than 100 animals after rising waters overwhelmed the facility, while a flooded pig farm in Binyang County saw thousands of pigs perish. Elsewhere, a snake breeding farm collapsed, allowing hundreds of snakes to escape.
Zoo loses more than 100 animals
According to Chinese outlet Jimu News, floodwaters at Guigang Zoo surged more than three meters (10 feet), submerging nearly the entire park.
On July 7, villagers found a zebra wandering through a nearby community. Zoo officials later identified it as a pregnant zebra that had been carried away by the flood.
Employees said they narrowly escaped the rising water before being evacuated. Most of the zoo’s herbivores were swept from their enclosures and remain missing, while several carnivores drowned.
The zoo’s director said staff locked the predator enclosures before the flooding to prevent dangerous animals from escaping into nearby communities.
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“We couldn’t allow the predators to get out and injure people. Before the flood arrived, we locked the cages in the predator area. After the flood, more than 100 animals from over 20 species had been swept away. Although the predators remained inside their cages, three lions died.”
Only one missing animal—a sika deer—has been recovered so far.
The zoo estimates the disaster caused more than 4 million yuan (about US$560,000) in losses, including damaged facilities and missing or dead animals.
Thousands of pigs die at flooded farm
The disaster also submerged a commercial pig farm in Binyang County, near the city of Nanning.
Video posted online on July 8 showed a person navigating a boat through the flooded property, where countless pig carcasses floated belly-up across the water. Some had already begun to blacken from decomposition, while one surviving pig swam toward the boat.
The person filming can be heard saying, “Let’s go, let’s go. I can’t take this anymore.”
Officials with the Binyang County Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs confirmed the footage was authentic and identified the site as Binyang Jinghua Planting and Breeding Co., Ltd., a privately owned livestock operation in Wangling Township.
Based on the farm’s production capacity, authorities estimated that several thousand pigs had died.
Standing water continued to hamper efforts to recover the carcasses and clear the site, officials said.
【广西洪水】7月8日，据多家媒体报道，广西宾阳县王灵镇一处养猪场在洪灾中被淹，大量生猪死亡。视频显示，不少死猪漂浮在水面，部分尸体已出现腐胀变黑。… pic.twitter.com/IqF2SofFGp— 李老师不是你老师 (@whyyoutouzhele) July 10, 2026
【广西洪水】7月8日，据多家媒体报道，广西宾阳县王灵镇一处养猪场在洪灾中被淹，大量生猪死亡。视频显示，不少死猪漂浮在水面，部分尸体已出现腐胀变黑。… pic.twitter.com/IqF2SofFGp
Hundreds of snakes escape after breeding facility collapses
According to Global Times, in Hengzhou City, floodwaters destroyed a snake breeding facility in Yunbiao Township, allowing hundreds of snakes to escape.
A village official estimated that between 800 and 900 snakes had been housed at the site.
The manager of another wildlife breeding company said Hengzhou is home to roughly 500 to 600 snake farms, with Yunbiao having the largest concentration. Snake houses are normally enclosed with fine mesh designed to prevent escapes, she said, but the force of the water caused one facility to collapse.
“Many of the village’s snakes drowned in the flood. The snakes escaped from that particular farm because the flooding was so severe that the snake house collapsed.”
She added that cobras and Chinese rat snakes were among the species most commonly raised in the area.
Snakebite victim reportedly dies
The Beijing News reported that a woman bitten by a snake in Yunbiao Township died after flood-damaged roads delayed her transfer to a hospital.
A villager involved in the rescue said she had to be moved several times before reaching medical care and was already unconscious when he saw her.
Another resident who was also bitten by a snake said the woman, believed to be in her forties or fifties, was bitten on the evening of July 6.
Hospital staff confirmed that a snakebite patient later died.
Official death toll questioned online
Large areas of Guangxi remain underwater following the disaster.
At a July 9 news briefing, officials in Nanning said the flooding had left 39 people dead and nine missing across the region. They said the breach of Liulan Reservoir accounted for 26 of the deaths, including five victims whose identities had not yet been confirmed, while seven people remained missing.
The official figures were met with widespread skepticism on Chinese social media, although no independent casualty count has been publicly verified.