Pictured: Sickening moment tiger is beaten around the head with a stick to pose for photographs with Chinese families

Animal appears drugged as parents and children queue up for mementos

Shocking video emerged today showing a dazed and confused tiger being smacked in the head with sticks while being forced to pose for photographs with tourists.

The tiger, which appears to have been drugged, is seen slumped on a table as excited parents and children queue up to sit next to the endangered animal.

To ensure it keeps facing the camera, two men armed with white sticks bash it in the face and neck.

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Cruel: A docile tiger is smacked around the head as tourists, one of them nonchalantly smoking a cigarette, pose for pictures with the animal

Bashed: The tiger, which appears to have been drugged, is seen slumped on a table as excited parents and children queue up to sit next to the endangered animal

Cruel: A docile tiger is smacked around the head as tourists, one of them nonchalantly smoking a cigarette, pose for pictures with the animal

It is not clear where or when the video was taken or who is organising the photographs, which are very likely to have been laid on for financial gain.

But in a posting on liveleak.com, where the footage was uploaded, it claims to have taken place in the popular beach resort of Beidaihe in the Chinese city of Qinhuangdao, possibly at a zoo.

One commenter said: 'I was seriously hoping this video would end with one of those two guys mauled.'

Emergence of the video comes just days after terrified lions were pelted with snowballs by by laughing visitors, including children, at Hangzhou Zoo in Zhejiang Province, eastern China.

VIDEO Warning: Graphic content some viewers may find disturbing

Spectator sport: Parents and two young children sit next to the tiger for their picture in front of a wildlife background Kept in line: It is not clear where or when the footage was taken, but left below the video posted online suggest it may have been at a zoo in the popular beach resort of Beidaihe in the Chinese city of Qinhuangdao Abused: A tourist laughs as one of the men armed with sticks makes sure the animal faces the camera

In January last year, the Chinese government banned zoos from putting on cruel animal performances after increased pressure from outraged animal rights groups.

A study by Animals Asia in 2010 found bears were often whipped and beaten with sticks, elephants were prodded with metal hooks, while tigers and lions were made to endure chronic pain by being defanged and declawed.