Moo Deng was once an ordinary pygmy hippo living in Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Thailand. The zoo employees posted adorable videos of her splashing in the water and playfully bitting a zoo keepers knee. The more they posted, the more popular Moo Deng became. In what seemed like just an overnight ordeal, Moo Deng had compiled thousands of fans. Fans started making edits, visiting, and idolizing Moo Deng. People all over the world started adoring Moo Deng simply because of how cute she is.

However, sometimes popularity leads to violence. Similar to regular human celebrities, people crowded by Moo Deng’s enclosure hoping to get a picture with her. With the giant crowds pouring into the zoo, the zoo keepers couldn’t keep up with the number of visitors.

Although most visitors were there with good intentions, some came with bad. Certain visitors, in order to get a good video or photo of Moo Deng, would throw water and many other objects at her to wake her up.

Many visitors said that certain enclosures looked depressing. One visitor even went as far as saying you could see the sadness in the eyes of all the animals you looked at. Enclosures looked bare, dusty, and not lived in. Another commenter said that they wished Moo Deng’s popularity would’ve prompted the owners to take better care of their animals. Instead, some think the owners only care about is the money Moo Deng is bringing in and not her safety.