BEIJING, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Animals in Chinese zoos had a rough and uneasy time amid the Spring Festival hustle and bustle, with pigs overfed by tourists and peacocks and a panda scared by banging fireworks.

    During the week-long lunar new year holiday, mini-pigs kept in the Shanghai Wild Zoo met a surging number of 20,000 visitors every day, up 20 percent compared to the same period last year, said a zoo manager.

    Tourists were eager to feed the pigs, as they wanted to get near the chubby beasts, which are considered symbols of luck and good fortune in the Chinese Year of Pig, they said.

    The over-fed animals were arranged to take shifts to meet visitors after they invariably showed digestive difficulties including constipation and diarrhea.

    In central China's Hubei province, zoos were not overwhelmed by tourists, but apparently disturbed by rocking firework explosions.     

    A giant panda named Qing Qing in Wuhan Zoo had a sleepless night on Chuxi, or the lunar new year eve. The panda became restless around midnight, when fireworks climaxed, said Gu Zhiqiang, a zoo keeper.

    The zoo keeper gave up the TV gala show and managed to calm it down by feeding it and chucking its head, he said.

    The panda did not go to sleep until dawn, the zoo keeper said.

    The same night, five peacocks fled the zoo amid banging explosions, with one peacock found near a hotel and four others still missing.