Tourist destroys ancient stalagmite in 3 kicks

A tourist has been fined and given ten days of detention after being found guilty of deliberately destroying a historic stalagmite at a cave in Songtao County, Guizhou Province.

The scenic attraction's administrator reported the incident to the Public Security Bureau on June 2. After an investigation police said a man, from Yinjiang, surnamed Zhang kicked off the stalagmite, when visiting the cave on May 29. The broken stalagmite was found on the side of the main path by a security guard.

The CCTV surveillance video shows the man, in a white t-shirt, taking three attempts before finally removing a 30cm-long piece, which took nature tens of thousands of years to form, while unaware tourists took photos of the natural marvels.

The man was originally fined 500 yuan (US$73.44), but on June 3 Zhang was given an extra ten days of detention for the incident by the Public Security Bureau who believed the fine was not sufficient punishment.