Five thousand fireflies at Qingdao Zhongshan Park in Shandong Province died just three days after they arrived from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Qilu Evening News reported Tuesday.

The park brought in a total of 10,000 fireflies from Guangxi on July 12 to attract visitors. But two days later, visitors noticed that the light given off by the fireflies had become bleak, and staff at the park realized that half of them were dead.

Park staff said that while the average lifespan of a firefly ranges from seven to 15 days, the period for these fireflies was shortened due to the added stress they faced from constant flashes from visitors' cameras.

The staff added that many of the dead flies had also been nearing their limit after spending two days in transit as they were shipped from Guangxi.

But many visitors, who pitied the deaths of the stunning insects, blamed the park, saying that it was the removing of the fireflies from their habitat in Guangxi in the first place, and forcing them to a different climate in Qingdao, which caused the premature deaths.

Qilu Evening News