It took thousands of years to form the limestone stalagmites and stalactites in the Qianlong Karst Caves in Songtao county, southwest China’s Guizhou Province, but it needed only seconds for a tourist to willfully destroy one of these geological marvels.

The Qianlongdong Scenic Area / Screenshot

A surveillance camera captured a male tourist in a white shirt intentionally kicking a 30 centimeter-tall limestone stalagmite in the Qianlongdong Scenic Areas on Monday, showing a flagrant disregard for signs warning visitors not to climb or touch the rock features. Tourists took photos and watched on as he kicked the stalagmite three times. The man and his companions left the broken stalagmite behind as they nonchalantly walked away.

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The management of the karst caves contacted local police as soon as the incident came to light. The tourist was fined 500 yuan (around 74 US dollars) as a punishment for his behavior.

The man told the police and the managers of the cave that he suspected the stone was man-made, so he gave it several kicks to test how strong it really was.

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The caves' management explained that all the stalagmites in the caves were naturally formed, and signposts and monitors were placed throughout the scenic area to warn visitors against touching the limestone features.

Wang Dayong, a cave enthusiast, told Beijing Youth Daily that the broken stalagmite would have been formed over many millennia, and could not be restored.

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Since the footage was made public, thousands of netizens on Sina Weibo have strongly criticized the man and called for a harsher punishment.

“This kind of man is really uneducated. I feel ashamed for him. Looking at the stalagmite is OK, but why did he have to damage it?” commented @myNenglianggirl.

“The scenic area should have released images of the man’s face, so that other tourism attractions across the country could blacklist him,” suggested @sunnyleeyq.

“Why was the fine only 500 yuan?” @Francksay asked alongside a helpless emoticon, before going on to express how futile it was to try and educate such people.