I spent a day at the Beijing Zoo last week for some intern work, and instead of oggling at the pandas like everyone else, I spent a good chunk of my time petting dogs and cats and feeding small goats at the Children’s Zoo. After comparing my Chinese zoo map with my English one, I discovered that the Chinese version uses the phrase 小动物爱心俱乐部 for “children’s zoo.” Directly translated, it means “Small Animals Affection Club.” I think this is much more fitting for furry creatures like these, don’t you?
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I only wish someone at Beijing Zoo would explain to visitors that potato chips make poor snacks for most of the animals. How many Chinese college students can’t find work? Hire a couple thousand (the BJ zoo is huge) zoology graduates to educate the visitors on wildlife. The only employees I ever saw on several visits were the ones selling concessions.
I meant for this particular post to be lighthearted, but I must take this opportunity to agree with you Gary. The most disturbing thing I witnessed during my zoo visit was watching visitors pour full bottles of Coca Cola into the mouths of the black bears. Several of the bears would actually stand on two feet and turn in circles to earn a drink of soda. Large, clear signs that said to not feed the animals were located inside the bear pit, but evidently, the zoo needs to hire some workers who can better monitor the animals and the visitors’ actions. I was very disgusted by this, but I hope that, as the Beijing Zoo has been recently making efforts to improve conditions, things will change for the better soon.
China has so many management problems that they would need 40 million professional managers to turn things around.
It’s kind of the same everywhere. The panda reserve of Chengdu has the same issues, even though it is clearly written not to knock on the windows/not use flashes to take pictures, no chinese visitor will give a damn as long as there is no employee around.
Not mentioning the so called “natural reserves”, amazing landscapes being turned into public garbage disposal by tourists, spotting a group of 20 years old having much fun throwing empty can/bottles into a lake is a common scene.
The only places that are effectively kept clean are those where you can find a security agent every 10 meters or so.
What was saying Jackie Chan already ?