A FRAIL lion that looks like a walking skeleton has become too weak to chew.
The skin-and-bones beast, called Ala, is so emaciated he can barely walk through his enclosure at the Jinniu Lake Safari Park in Nanjing, China.
A clip – shared later on Douyin, China's version of TikTok – shows the ultra-skinny lion wobbling down a walkway.
It caused outrage among viewers who accused the zoo of not taking proper care of the feeble feline.
One user said: "This is too much suffering. If you can't afford to feed it, send it to a different zoo that can.
"Why let him suffer? It should have been left living in nature."
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Another viewer added: "This zoo is too much, starving the lions like this."
Zoo officials later claimed that the lion is so old he can no longer chew his food.
They claim that the big cat is 25 years old and would be 80 if he were a human.
Officials say he is fed a special diet of liquid protein and small cuts of meat and is watched over by specially trained vets and keepers in a private cage.
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A spokesman for the zoo added: "Usually, we let it out for a walk in the morning or evening."
It comes after shocking footage showed starving lions walking like skeletons around one of the world's worst zoos.
The captive animals were shown lying down in their cages looking emaciated with their bones on show.
The footage of a zoo in Nigeria was taken by international NGO Wild at Life after a concerned visitor called them about two lions.
The group work to reduce and halt the illegal trade of wild animals and rescue mistreated animals from zoos.
A spokesman described the lions as looking like “walking skeletons” due to their diminished appearance.
Meanwhile, an abandoned lioness was driven "insane" after she and six other animals were left to rot at a zoo in Armenia.
Three lions, two bears and two guinea pigs were stranded and left to live in "horrific conditions" in a dilapidated animal park in the town of Gyumri.
Pictures taken of the animals in 2016 show the miserable conditions the animals lived in.
Locked in tiny cages, none of the wild beasts had access to food or water.
At another zoo, a lion was filmed having a seizure on the floor of his zoo enclosure.
Asiatic lion, Raffy, collapsed and started violently shaking at the Manila Zoo in the Philippines.
Onlooker Mark Lee said the animal appeared ''malnourished'' and called on the zoo to investigate incident.
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