The mood of Chinese bloggers appears to be tied up with the state of the big yellow rubber dock in Hong Kong. After the giant inflatable duck was deflated, the hashtag #DEVASTATED became trending on Twitter.

The 54-foot inflated duck, when it sailed into Victoria Harbour, generated positive response from local and foreign tourists and was also featured in many newspapers and TV shows. It likewise led to the manufacture of many duck-inspired products.

However, the duck was deflated on Wednesday, causing the rash of distressed tweets.

"Who shot and killed the duck and turned it into duck soup," asked on microblogger in Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter, quoted by The Wall Street Journal. On the same day, the hashtag Big Yellow Duck became the most blogged topic in Sina Weibo.

Speculations also ran high why the duck was in a deflated state. Some joked the duck was hit by the avian flu while others said too much playing broke the duck.

Harbour City said it is checking the reason behind the deflation. "Because it's Victoria Harbour, the waves are strong," explained Sandy Lee of Harbour City, who theorised a leak is the culprit, not a vandal.

After 10 days of promenading on the harbor, the duck has attracted thousands of local and overseas visitors. A creation of Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, the duck will remain in Hong Kong until June 9 and then sail on to other countries. Hong Kong is the 10th country on the giant duck's itinerary.

The giant duck brings to mind the song Rubber Duckie from the popular kiddie show Sesame Street sang by puppet Ernie.