 |
 The Zoo
Pages "Keep Wildlife in the Wild - NOT in high security prisons!!"
"The cruel wild beast is not behind the bars of the cage. He stands in front
of it." (Axel Munthe) This list of zoos is alphabetical by
Country, then City: Introduction Chinese zoos come under the authority of the State Forestry Administration which delegates the regulation of zoos to the China Wildlife Conservation Association . A comprehensive survey of the zoos of each country is vitally needed but no one has the resources to carry this out. Legislative control of zoos that would be a consequence of such a survey is therefore years down the line. If you visit any zoos in the region, we would be very pleased to hear an account of your visit. For more information on zoos
go to: Nothing here is copyright and attribution is not necessary but please don't misquote us
or take the comments out of context.
I visited the Beijing Zoo in 1978, 1994 and in March and June 1996. It is a beautiful park full of mature trees and miserable animals - but not as bad as most Chinese zoos - certainly better than Guilin, Qingdao, Guangzhou, etc. It is very large with an extensive collection of "exhibits". But every cage is a small concrete box. In 1978 I remember large areas of grass and trees with animals wandering about - but that's all gone - the animal areas are entirely concreted over. The human areas are all clean and well cared for but the animal areas are not good. No attempts whatsoever at enrichment. Many, many examples of stereotypic behaviour, many in frantic motion. 3 pandas - 2 sleeping, 1 pacing (feet being placed in exact position on each circuit). Giraffes looked in good condition but just a small concrete room. The elephants were not only confined in single very small rooms but also chained. Gorillas slumped in despond. Kangaroos lying miserably in small concrete rooms. Monkeys with bad skin disease. But the animals were generally in much better health than at other Chinese zoos. What I remember most about my visit in June 1978 was the obvious empathy between animals, keepers and visitors - a sort of symbiosis between keepers and animals, everyone poor but helping each other to make the best of life. No such feeling now. People shouting at and poking the animals to get reactions and laughing at zoochotic behaviour. I was interested to see a crate in the anteroom of the tiger house labelled "Tigers from Gerry Cottle's Circus, London". There was a nocturnal animal house - a low light hall lined with cages of frantically pacing small mammals - civets, lemurs, loris, etc., etc. The animals to have your photo taken with were all, thank goodness, artificial. No animal performances. A much more thorough review of Beijing zoos can be found in the International Zoo News - Jan/Feb 2001.
Changsha,
Hunan Province, PRC.
AAPN REPORT: Click here for the photos. Visited again in April 2007 to
accompany a Sky News team. Changzhou, Jiangsu
Province, PRC. Chengdu, Sichuan Province, PRC. 1. Sun and Moon. The animal abusive acts had stopped because, as the Manager explained, "There were too many complaints". Well done, Joe Public! 2. Giant Panda Breeding Research Station. This is a noble effort but judging by the statistics it seems doomed to failure. The conditions that I saw were quite good by zoo standards but I understand from a friend who had access to parts that were out of bounds to me that some of the experimental conditions are not so pleasant. Unfortunately they have not been sufficiently successful to have a self perpetuating colony and, to keep up the numbers that they need for research, they may have to continue to capture wild pandas. It seems obvious to me that the problem is not going to be solved by fancy test tube techniques. What in fact they are proving is that the only way to save this species is to conserve its natural habitat. I fear that it will take them a long time before they will admit this, far less achieve the necessary protection of the wild areas. Meanwhile the business men are getting on with their business of making profits. The destruction of the species is ensured because there is a sufficient number of business people and officials in high places who do not consider the panda to be of importance. They will likely deliver a fait accompli while the world talks. I hope I am wrong. Second
Visit - on Tuesday
13th November 2001. 3. Chengdu Zoo.
The elephant barn was one of the best I have seen. The dog section was one of the worst ; each animal in a square metre concrete house with a tiny wooden platform as the only feature. The rhinoceros exhibit was poignant; new and unoccupied. You may remember that the San Diego zoo gifted two rhinos to Chengdu in the summer of 1996; they perished of heat exhaustion on the overland journey from Shanghai. I have to comment that the new rhino house was far too small for such large mammals; they would not have had a worthwhile life had they completed the journey. I visited again in December, 1997 mainly to check stories that the Zoo had put a stuffed rhino on display. But as far as I could see the rhino house was still completely empty. We visited again in November, 2001. The rhino house now has a resident white rhino and 5 zebras. The dog section has fortunately disappeared - in its place is a small petting zoo. Other animals include the following:
From Global Zoo Directory:
Visited again in June 2007.
For Chengdu Photos, click here. For more information on
Sichuan Province, see:
A port city on roughly the same latitude as, and half way between, Beijing and Seoul. Population about 5 million. I visited in November, 1997. The old zoo has been closed and a huge new one constructed taking up the whole of a valley on one of the hills just outside the city. Different exhibits are up different side valleys. So there is lots of space and the area is most attractive. Unfortunately, as usual, all the consideration has been given to the human perspective with little regard for the interests of the inmates - they are still "exhibited" (exposed) in tiny concrete and iron cages. A monorail takes you up from the main to entrance to the main hub for the side valleys. I had hoped that the train would take me round the zoo in the same fashion as the monorail at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Up the main side valley is a conventional small zoo with greater and lesser pandas, alligators, aviaries, a children's petting zoo, various deer, monkeys, etc and a dolphinarium/aquarium (not yet opened). Up another side valley are zebras, giraffes and camels. Up the main valley are an elephant house with a performance area outside it but no sign of an elephant; a primate house; bears, tigers, lions; and a permanent circus area. On the first afternoon I just had time to look at the first valley - it was all very modern and really not bad as zoos go - not unpleasant apart from the biting cold wind. I went back the next day and saw some horrors. The bears were overcrowded in exposed concrete shelves and were displaying classic stereotypic movements - very distressed and distressing. Many of the monkeys were also out of their minds. There were snow leopards, a wolf and a lynx in new, clean but hopelessly small, featureless and exposed cages. I watched a man take a swig of water in his mouth and spit it over the already terrified wolf - he looked at me in complete surprise when I swore at him, obviously having no idea that he had done anything wrong. As so often in Chinese zoos every spectator felt it necessary to stimulate a reaction from each animal by banging, shouting, throwing things and spitting. In this zoo, the staff were all doing this too - apparently just to pass their time. An interesting feature of the lion exhibit is that it has a fenced off section for two terrified goats. The tiger exhibit was better than many. In with the tigers were four dogs. My initial thought - remembering the Xili Lake Zoo's policy of selling live chickens to the public to throw to the tigers - was omigod, this must be lunch! But no, apparently the dogs had been given to a lactating tiger and had grown up as part of the family. They seemed to enjoy each other's company. Far and away the worst part of the zoo is the Circus. Unfortunately I just missed the morning show so I hung around freezing until the afternoon show which was then cancelled because of the weather. But I was able to photograph the animals in their beast wagons which were their permanent quarters. The cages give them room only to stand up and turn round - they don't even get the comfort of psychotic pacing. The cages are outdoors with no shelter. The bears had rings through their noses or lips as at Xili Lake. See Photographs.
Fuzhou, Fujian Province, PRC I was in Fuzhou on 18 Jan 1997. This is the capital city of Fujian Province. I had been there a couple of times before but had not had time to go to the zoo. I would describe the zoo as about average for a Chinese zoo in all respects. Its area was small but it was attractively situated on the side of a little hill. The busiest attractions were the children's train and various underground horror shows. All cages dirty plain concrete and iron boxes with no imagination used. Zero attempts at enrichment. Lots of litter. Many of the animals were in travelling cages within the cage. No attempt was being made to stop the people from throwing food, plastic bags, cigarette ends etc at the animals and laughing hilariously at the animals' responses. Everywhere stereotypy and misery. Cages were mostly a standard 2 x 4 metres. There were 2 elephants (unchained and in reasonable though bored condition), 3 pacing tigers, 2 moon bears, 1 lioness with cub, 1 begging brown bear in a pit, 2 chimps, 7 crowded camels, 4 porcupines, 5 vultures, 1 leopard cat, innumerable birds and monkeys, 3 ponies, 2 yaks, one boar, several raccoons and goats, 4 sheep, 15 deer, 2 leopards (one with a skin disease), 2 silver foxes, 2 each of two other varieties of the cat family, 1 coypu, 2 really pathetic wolves in a tiny space, several small aquaria and a reptile and amphibian house. The dog area, sponsored by Pedigree, was a shocker. In the streets of Fuzhou there were hawkers openly selling wild animal skins. There were advertisements in my hotel by the local Tourist Bureau promoting fishing and the hunting of bear ("bares") and deer; complete with a colour picture of a bleeding deer. This is the entry from the Global Zoo Directory. Fuzhou Giant Panda Research Center
I visited the Fuzhou Zoo again in November 1997. The two wolf exhibit is now only one. The remaining one is an awful state of constant fear. All the animals were in a state of constant fear. Practically every visitor shouted and banged to watch the fright reaction. For photos, click here (November 1997).
This southern city of Taiwan, also spelled Kaohsiung, is one of the world's busiest ports. I visited the Long Life Mountain Public Garden (Shousan Park) - commonly known as the "Shou Shan Zoo" - in May 1996. It was a beautiful early summer day. The zoo is closed every Monday but I found the Director who gave me permission to visit. Unfortunately I didn't have time to talk with him or even get his name as he was driving out to have a day off. My feeling about the zoo may have been improved by the good weather and the lack of people. It is a fairly new zoo, much smaller than the Taipei one, quite well designed from a human point of view and certainly much better designed than London or Guangzhou zoos. It has been built in one corner of a rehabilitation scheme of a disused stone quarry which had destroyed half a mountain. Far too much concrete but the animals had more space than in the menagerie zoos and there was plenty of use of trees and shrubs for screening, shade and general interest. As high security prisons go, not too bad. The animals were mostly in concrete floored pits surrounded by artificial rock. They generally looked healthy, clean and well nourished. I did not observe any stereotypic behaviour. One of the tigers jumped up at me when I got close and seemed to enjoy the game. An elephant took obvious delight in throwing leaves and small stones at me. The pythons were presumably happy to have live chickens sharing their cage. The chickens seemed happy foraging for food, apparently unaware of their cell mates. I had the feeling that all the animals were enjoying a quiet day after a noisy Sunday. The keepers seemed to have a good attitude towards the animals. One lady was hosing and brushing the sealions with obvious pleasure all round. The only time that Virginia McKenna's adjective "unacceptable" leaped to my
tongue was at the last minute in a small building just beside the exit gate. There were
three tiny totally featureless cages which I would have thought to be temporary holding
cages if it was not for the permanent sign posts attached to them. In here were a gibbon,
a binturong and two rabbits. The night before, I visited the Lioho Night market where there were many hawkers selling puppies, cats, baby civets, rabbits, etc.. Also distressing to a vegetarian were the piles of hearts, kidneys, livers, guts, etc. waiting to be cooked for hungry passers by. Fortunately I did not see any manacled orangutans - I believe they are a thing of the past - let's hope so. 100 kilometres North of Kaohsiung, in fact just North West of Tainan, is the Leopard
King Safari Zoo. This is a new and pleasingly unambitious animal
collection. It is obviously designed to make money but it has plenty of good
educational stuff and no harrowing exhibits. Most of the animals are in square
featureless paddocks but, apart from some holding cages at the back and the reptile house
(the worst "exhibit" is the Komodo Dragon), no menagerie type enclosures. It is
not what we have come to think of as a safari park - the animals are not roaming. Visitors
walk rather than drive but for an extra fee they can go round in a horse drawn carriage.
There is an elephant which performs tricks and there is a show which features such things
as birds flying out of a burst balloon. But there are no big cats, bears or primates or
the other animals which most hate captivity. Some giraffes, zebras and camels (which have
pegs through their faces and can be ridden for a fee). There are lots of ostriches -
I think they are planning ostrich rides too.
Guangzhou, Guangdong, PRC. Guangzhou Zoo. Tel 777 5574 or 775 2702 My first visit was in 1978 - I remember then that I thought it generally better than the Edinburgh Zoo despite many rusting cages and flea-bitten, malnourished animals. I visited again in 1994 and noted that it had a small wretched circus area, the big apes looked miserable but the elephants and the kangaroos had much more room than is usual - and all the cells were clean and the animals looked physically healthy. One of the elephants knew how to break open bottles of mineral water, swallowing the water and spitting out the bottle. I visited again on Wednesday 1st May 1996. It was a Public Holiday and the Zoo was very crowded until a major thunderstorm and downpour half way through the afternoon drove most of the people away. Many new cages had been added since my last visit. All have been designed with absolutely no consideration for the animal's natural habitat. The only considerations appear to be hygiene and visibility to the public. The cages are uniformly bleak with concrete walls and floors and iron bars. There is usually an open wooden box as sleeping quarters. Most of the animals that were not sleeping were showing distressing signs of Zoochosis. Some of the tigers, in particular, were harrowingly demented. One bear had calluses on its face caused by stereotypic rubbing. The cage next to this bear was bizarrely stuffed full of live chickens. The good things that can be said about this zoo are that the park is beautiful with some fine mature trees; the animals and their cages are quite clean; and, despite it being a busy day, the amount of litter was not as bad as in some zoos; the elephants were not chained, at least during my visit; and there was no live animal photography area. Unfortunately a long tree and shrub lined avenue that I had enjoyed last time is now a building site. And there was, very unfortunately, a performance area. There was an additional charge US$0.8 to enter this "circus ring". The sheltered part of the auditorium was crowded, probably because of the rain - certainly the audience did not seem to be very interested in the show. The youths conducting the show were obviously very bored and communicated this to the audience. The animals when not performing are confined to tiny body sized cages in a grotto at the back of the stage. The show takes about forty five minutes and is followed by a fifteen minute break before the cycle is repeated. The animals could not be said to be in good condition but they were not as sick as I have seen in other zoo circuses. There was no attempt at either audience participation or educational messages. During the interval the loudspeaker blasts Cantopop. Then a bell rings, the lights come on, a girl shouts into the microphone and the Cantopop is replaced by blaring circus type music. The acts: A tiger walks round the ring, a youth cracks a whip on its hide, it gets up onto one of three stools and steps from one to the other and back again, then the youth shakes its hand and it walks off. Four small dogs jump hurdles, roll over and jump through a hoop. Next there is much shouting, growling and cage banging from behind the scenes to impress the audience that a very fierce animal is about to enter. A small lioness, edentulous and declawed, eventually emerges and leans over a large metal ball, growling when poked with the whip handle - this goes on for several distressing minutes. A goat is made to walk back and forth across a series of uprights. A tiger comes out pulling a small cart in which sits a bored young lady waving plastic flowers. A young man cracks a whip at the tiger. A dog balances on a ball then walks on hindlegs. A pony walks round the ring with a lion on a platform on its back. Then a tiger gets on to the platform in the place of the lion. Then a monkey - the audience liked this act, the first time they had showed appreciation. Lots of whip cracking. A small moon bear with a string attached to a ring through its upper lip lies on its back twirling a stick on its four paws, then stands on a plank balancing on a rolling log. A monkey pulls a cart then pushes a wheelbarrow then balances on a ball rolling it over a seesaw; then repeats the performance carrying an umbrella. Another monkey does the plank balancing on a rolling log trick then rides a bicycle. The youth cracks the whip but does not hit the monkey. A pair of monkeys ride bicycles - the audience enjoys this. A pair of tigers have a brief boxing match then slide down a chute. I then tried to visit the pedigree dog area but I was not allowed in as it was after 5.0pm. Displays of domestic animals in Chinese zoos are now, unfortunately, common. The animals have no contact with others of their kind or humans except through the bars. They are fed on congee. The petfood manufacturer IAMS was supplying dog and cat food to the Guangzhou Zoo but withdrew when they discovered that their products were being sold to pet shops and the animals were continuing to be fed congee. The zoo is now supplied by Pedigree. I inspected a very large building site behind the Main Gate and discovered that this will be a Dolphinarium. (Every Chinese Municipality is getting one of these). During the heavy rain there was a major run off of topsoil from the herbivores' cages. On 18th January, 1997 I paid my nth visit to the Guangzhou zoo. Nothing much
to report. The Hong Kong jaguar children are pacing like pros. The performance area is
continuing; I was particularly upset by the performing goat which when not on duty stands
in a pen with its face in a dark corner obviously terrified of the beasts of prey
surrounding it. The other performance animals spend their time stereotyping or sleeping in
the usual travelling size cages. The construction of the dolphinarium is progressing well.
I copied from a notice board that Guangzhou Zoo is "one of the largest in China,
built in 1958, 43.3 hectares with 400 animals from 400 species. Visited again in July 2005. To help to do something about
this zoo, please join this forum:
The Guilin Zoo is typical of many in the minor towns of China. We first visited it in 1994. It is situated in a beautiful park (the Seven Star Park - so called because it has limestone karsts in the formation of the Plough) - but the housing conditions are awful. Miserable shabby unhealthy looking animals. On the way back from the zoo we came across a dog slaughterhouse which was extremely harrowing. We visited again, ten years later, in April 2004. The park has generally been greatly cleaned up and is quite delightful - except for the wretched animal cages which still persist in dark corners. It is high time the authorities closed the zoo part of this otherwise magnificent park. The entire dog slaughterhouse street has been demolished. Xiongsen Bear and Tiger
Mountain Village April 2007. Recent reports reveal that this tiger and bear farm is prospering beyond all belief. See report.
Kim Ling Park Zoo is another typical miserable hell hole which should be a matter of shame for China and should be closed at once and the animals sent somewhere with better conditions. Visited August 1999. The Park itself is quite lovely, there is no need to ruin it by the addition of concrete and iron and wretched animals. Most of the cages were 4 x 4 metre structures of decaying mouldy concrete and rusting iron. Faeces and food scraps lay mixed on the cage floors. There was a poor little frightened sunbear in a dank hole of a cage. Six tigers with
very little room to move and nothing to do. Two male and two female lions. Haikou, Hainan Island, PRC. Four Zoos. 1. Hainan Dongshan Hu Wild Animal Park. (South Sea East Mountain Lake
Wild Animal Park). Visited 31st March, 1997, February 1999 and 22nd
August 2003. This is one of the new Chinese Safari Parks. It is one of the best animal facility in China. It is simple, unambitious, clean, well run and has few add-on horrors like photography or performance areas. It lies about one hour's driving South of Haikou, the principal city of Hainan Island. The countryside immediately outside the relatively prosperous city of Haikou is traditional and very poor, windswept and gently undulating - rice paddies, maize, vegetables, fruit trees (durian, jack-fruit, laichee, longan, papaya, banana, Indian almond), dry stone walls, water buffaloes pulling ploughs, women bent double planting rice. The Park, and its neighbouring golf course, obviously supply a good source of employment for the local community. Most visitors go there by tourist coach (arranged by China International Travel Service) but I hired a taxi which cost about US$25. Entrance fee is 50 Yuan per passenger, no charge for the vehicle. There did not appear to be any attempt to inform drivers of rules and certainly no enforcement of common sense behaviour. My driver almost knocked down an old blind tiger. At another time he misunderstood my request to back up, and started to get out of the car within two metres of a pride of lions. There were double gates between each section - but at most of them discipline was poor and both gates were open at once to facilitate the rapid transit of the tourist coaches and dark windowed limousines. The roads were not paved. The land was flat, surrounded by an immense stone wall and planted with Eucalypts, Acacias, Evodia, etc. Different sections contained tigers, lions, moon bears, David's deer, sika deer, emu, ostrich, different kinds of horses, camels. These were all in open forest but the giraffe and the zebra were in smaller enclosures so that you could get out and touch them. The two Asian elephants, a larger and a smaller female were in a large moated compound - they had obviously been chained for long years in previous inadequate accommodation as they stood in a corner bobbing and swaying as if still chained. The track finally led to monkey mountain where there was a car park (when I was there, there were 6 cars and 22 coaches) and toilets, drinks, etc. The unusual feature of this monkey mountain was that the public was allowed to go through the gate and mingle with the animals. All in all, I was pleased to see the animals being able to roam about without bars and cages. Of course, the fields could do with being bigger. On the way back the driver took me to Stone Mountain - I would not recommend this
diversion unless you are into eating mutton or hiring cheap prostitutes. Visited again in February 1999. Standards appear to have been maintained. My only major criticism is the lack of supervision of the drivers. My own taxi driver had great fun driving at speed up to the animals and blaring his horn. Visited again in August 2003. It is still one of the best zoos around but management standards are being lowered. Live chickens are on sale for visitors to feed to the lions, tigers and crocodiles. And many new miserably designed menagerie cages are being built in the forest. Photos. 2. Haikou People's Park Zoo. Visited first on 1st April, 1997. This miserable little zoo is tucked in a corner of a pleasant park in the heart of Haikou, surrounded with big trees. The decaying iron and concrete cages are arranged in a rectangle. The first thing that hits you is the stench. The cages are a standard 3 square metres; 5 surfaces mouldy, featureless concrete; one side rusting bars or wire netting. The wretched in-mates are: two unresponsive domestic cats (one with severe skin disease), one Chinese alligator, two porcupines, one terrified rabbit, four capybara, one python, two more alligators, one owl surrounded with bird shit (Bubo bubo), five owls (Tyto), two moon bears pacing in a double cage which was featureless and dank, another solitary moon bear, lots of macaques and many birds (some in tiny cages inside the standard cages). Visited again in May 1998. This really is one of the world's worst zoos. It cost 2 yuan to enter the public park and another 4 yuan to enter the zoo. 4 yuan is just under 50 US cents. None of the animals had water (it was a swelteringly hot, humid day). There was old food and faeces lying everywhere, rats running about. The cages are totally featureless, rusted, broken, slimy and mouldy, decayed and dangerous. Many are unlocked. All are unsupervised and I observed several children put their hands through the bars of the cages (bears, monkeys, etc). All the visitors - except me - were shouting, laughing and spitting at the animals. The area is laid out in a rectangle - this is the tally of animals: On left of entrance: At left hand end: Side of rectangle opposite entrance: Row of cages (same size) containing: Row of cages (each divided into a front section about 3mx3m and a rear section about
the same size - the animals were confined in the rear sections, apparently permanently)
containing: On right of entrance: Visited again in August
2003.
As we were by chance in Haikou on business on 13th February 1999,
we took a taxi out to the Park. It was not yet open and we were obviously the first
visitors. Mr Yang was not there but Mr Li was very hospitable and proud to show us his
crocodiles. He told us that it would open on 18th March but, by the appearance, it
is likely to be much later. The 3,500 crocodiles are there - no, we didn't count them! But
there were certainly thousands. The shops for selling the handbags, shoes, wallets, etc
are built but not yet fitted out. The restaurants for serving crocodile meals are built
but not yet fitted out. The stadiums for the crocodile shows, the elephant shows
and the cock-fighting are not yet finished. There are no animals on site yet apart
from the crocodiles. Mr Li's Thai manager, who has three fingers missing from his right
hand, said that 4,500Kg of Chicken would be imported weekly from Russia to feed the
crocodiles. Visited again in August
2003. 4. Haikou Golden Bull Ridge Zoo
(Jinniuling Zoo) This is a new zoo opened in late 1998. There is therefore no excuse for its appallingly low standards. There is no attempt anywhere at enrichment. The animals live singly in plain concrete and iron cages. There is no hope for the inmates. I visited it in February, November and December 1999. And again in August 2003. And again in December 2004. 1 x elephant In November 1999, two terrified wolves had been added in a grossly inadequate
cage - serious cruelty! This report appeared in the
China Daily 13th December 2001 This zoo is everything that a zoo should not be. The pervasive cruelty is
horrible to witness. Pressure needs to be put on the Haikou authorities to make
improvements. Hengyang, Hunan Province, PRC Visited in June 1999. Another miserable tribute to humankind's inhumanity.
At
least it is a very small zoo. Hong Kong, SAR, PRC 1. Lai Chi Kok Zoo was one of the world's worst. There was a long but finally successful campaign to have it closed (HK SPCA, Born Free Foundation and others). The decision was hastened by the Government refusing import licences for new animals but was probably mainly the result of the increase in real estate prices. Most of the animals were sent to Xili Lake Wild Animal Park in Shenzhen which on paper before it opened seemed good but unfortunately has been administered with scant regard for the welfare of the inmates - see more on Zoopage 2 under Shenzhen. 2. Zoological and Botanical Gardens.
Update February 2008. 3. Ocean Park is very popular in Hong Kong and no one seems aware that there is
a problem for the whales and dolphins. Visited many times by
us since its opening in 1977. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
