"Safari
It is not just wild animals that are dangerous, but also safari parks.
On October 17, a staff member of the Shanghai Wildlife Park was attacked by a bear and died while carrying out operations in the beast area.
The video taken by the passengers showed that a group of bears were gathered together, and there were other bears running towards here.
Witnesses said, "They are like a well-trained team, dragging people into the grass."
The video flowing out afterwards was shocking.
But in a safari park, this situation is not the first time.
In 2017, at Ningbo Youngor Zoo, a tourist jumped over the isolation fence and was attacked to death by a tiger. In 2016, at Beijing Badaling Wildlife Park, a staff member was trampled to death by an elephant while he was feeding and cleaning the elephant’s house. One of the beasts of this zoo got off the car while driving while being bitten by a tiger. The year before, a tourist got off the car while visiting the White Tiger Park and died of bites at the Qinhuangdao Wildlife Park in Hebei.
In Wuhan Forest Wildlife Park, there have been multiple incidents of lion bites. A mother and her child were bitten and seriously injured. A breeder was killed by two lionesses.
Popular science writers with the pen name Huazha have visited many zoos in China.
He found that the protection facilities and management levels of wild parks are uneven. "The newly built wild parks in many places are very poor." He has seen the worst one, where tourists can feed at will. There are problems with the source of animals and the way of raising them. There are still many security holes-an old man went to clean the bear pen and entered with a broom.
Zhang Jinshuo, the science curator of the National Zoological Museum and a Ph.D. from the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, also believes that safari parks in my country generally face management and philosophy issues. "Which zoos in the world have animals that kill people like we do now? This is the most basic one. The problem. This problem can’t be solved, don’t talk about anything else.”
But in fact, the pace of China's construction of wildlife parks has not slowed down.
In 1993, China's first wild zoo-Shenzhen Wild Zoo opened to the outside world.
In the following 10 years, various places followed suit. The total number of domestic safari parks exceeded 30, which is 6 times that of Japan and 3 times that of the United States.
In 1997, Zhao Zhongxiang, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, suggested not to build wild zoos indiscriminately.
In 2000, the former State Forestry Administration formulated a 30-year plan for the National Wildlife Park, stipulating that in principle, only one should be approved for each province.
However, after the formulation of this plan, some under the banner of "Provincial Governor Project" and "Mayor Project" still "catch the tide."
Data show that as of the end of 2018, there were 49 wild zoos in my country.
Among them, many safari zoos cost more than 1 billion yuan at every turn, covering an area of several thousand acres, and some are equipped with five-star hotels and dream circus towns.
A certain city has announced that it will "welcome three aircraft carrier-level wildlife worlds" in the same year.
The beast is fierce, and the capital is urgent.
"What kind of safari park do we need?" a netizen asked.
1
On October 18, Shanghai Wild Animal Park issued an announcement through its official website: The park is actively cooperating with relevant departments to investigate the incident, and do its best to deal with the incident and the aftermath.
As of press time, Shanghai Wild Animal Park has not disclosed the cause and process of the incident.
According to "Caixin" report, an excavator was carrying out weeding operations in the bear area at the time of the incident.
According to family members and people in the park, the excavator failed to move and the driver got out of the car to check.
The breeder saw the warning when he got out of the car with his bare hands, but unexpectedly, he suffered an accident, "the whole process did not come in a minute."
"Why are there people working in animal activity places? This is incomprehensible. There must be loopholes in management." Zhang Jinshuo said.
Zhang Jinshuo told China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily that many domestic wildlife parks lack mature management capabilities and professional teams.
Most of these "wild parks" are built in the suburbs, covering an area of several thousand acres.
Unlike urban zoos that are public welfare units, these wild zoos are mostly built by private investment and are responsible for their own profits and losses.
Some safari parks claim to be modeled after the Kruger National Park in South Africa, "with the theme of large wild animals".
Most of the employees are farmers who have lost their land—they use land to invest in shares and replace the resettlement fees with profit sharing.
When safari parks are "surplus" and after the "expensive profit period", some losses are closed, resulting in the death of wild animals.
Some people believe that in the international arena, national parks or nature reserves are the closest to China's "wild park".
Zhang Jinshuo introduced that most of the domestic wild zoo names will be translated into safari park or wildlife safari.
safari specifically refers to the hunting of wild beasts in East Africa and southern Africa. After the hunting ban, it mostly refers to long-distance travel to watch wild beasts.
Zhang Jinshuo has led a delegation to Africa for 18 visits.
In places like Kenya and Tanzania in Africa, safari tourism is particularly mature.
Drivers can immediately judge based on the animal's habits that lions are going to hunt and antelopes are going to cross the river. They are even called "naturalists".
In Zhang Jinshuo's view, the animals in safari in Africa are essentially different from those in the zoo.
The former is in a completely wild state, while the latter lives under the influence of people, and their habits and living conditions have been changed by people.
A common reserved item in domestic safari parks is to travel through the beast area by car-some are to visit the zoo in uniform vehicles, and some allow private cars to enter, but the beasts are separated by trenches, railings, and power grids.
On the official website of a certain zoo, this project is called "Wild Zone", which can "experience the thrill of being just one step away from the fangs of beasts."
Huazha believes that “it’s not a good business model to let the beasts get close to the car.” This kind of tour method strongly interferes with the life of the animals. “In a really good zoo, animals should not go around people.
"There are few such zoos abroad." Zhang Jinshuo said, similar in form but different in content.
For example, Singapore's Night Safari also has a release area, but only a few animals are released, all of which are herbivores.
"There has never been a carnivorous like tiger, leopard, jackal, or bear."
In addition, from the perspective of the flower eclipse, this approach will bring another risk.
"Because people are hard to control, there is a great safety hazard. What if people get out of the car? You can't prevent it."
2
Some netizens speculated that the bears in the Shanghai Wildlife Park may be because of hunger. The zoo uses hunger to increase the activity of animals and satisfy tourists' interest in visiting.
This has not been confirmed.
However, two researchers who did not want to be named told China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily that a similar situation does exist in domestic wildlife parks.
"In the safari park, beasts have been interacting with people's cars to ask for food, and this is often because they are hungry and they rarely get enough to eat."
Paid feeding is a common way of interaction between people and animals, and it is also a "signature project" of the safari park.
But in the eyes of zoologists, tourists feeding animals is extremely dangerous.
In many foreign zoos, feeding is almost strictly forbidden. Once discovered, they have to accept high fines, because "that is a behavior that disrupts the balance between humans and animals"-animals not only change their habits, but also more Depend on people, and even conflict.
Zhang Jinshuo explained that animals that are used to being fed have psychological expectations of humans.
If it does not get food from the tourists, it will actively follow, pick up the cart, flip the bag, or even make an aggressive behavior.
In his opinion, some animals that originally lived alone were forced to live in groups in the zoo, and independent foraging became artificial feeding. This not only changed the relationship between animals, but also the relationship between animals and people.
Shen Liang (pseudonym) works as a breeder in a domestic safari park and raises 13 beasts.
The liger mixed breeding area he manages is very popular.
Every morning, after completing the routine cage observation, Shen Liang and his colleagues will release the beasts from their solitary cages and let them enter the playground.
One lion and six tigers will be placed in an activity field of several hundred square meters for tourists to watch.
He sometimes tells tourists "interesting stories" of beast fights and tigers' "single fight".
But such fighting is not a natural and pleasant thing for wild animals.
Zhang Jinshuo explained that in the wild, tigers and bears are solitary animals and have a strong sense of territory.
After entering the zoo to live in groups, there will be a lot of mental pressure to distinguish one from another through fighting.
Some beasts that are at a disadvantage cannot grab food and are bullied again. Once a weaker person enters the cage or release area, it will definitely attack the weaker.
"People who bite are usually bullied. Other tigers usually can't fight it. Now that humans enter its territory, it will definitely attack people. It must release this pressure."
Zhang Jinshuo went to the field all year round and found that whether he went to India, Sri Lanka, Nepal to see tigers, or to Kenya, Africa to see lions, there would never be animals to pull people out of the car.
Sometimes they drive a convertible without even a car door.
Cheetahs and lions are nearby, but they do not attack people.
"In the wild, many animals are very vigilant and are afraid of people. Moreover, for them, the wild food is abundant and there is no need to grab food from people."
What impressed Zhang Jinshuo was that in a video shot at the Yunnan Wildlife Park, tourists "fished a tiger" with a piece of meat tied to a string.
This project made him feel that the zoo has lost its educational function.
"It is very low-level to make money by feeding and entertaining animals," Zhang Jinshuo said, "There should be more advanced methods for income generation." For example, you can invite high-level experts to do science popularization. Explain, organize small breeder training, insect specimen production, feed processing experience activities, and even break away from the pavilion itself, take everyone to the wild birds and see the free wildlife in Africa.
He believes that these items can be charged.
The safari park can be made elegant and noble. It does not have to entertain animals to make money.
Flower Eclipse has also been observed that when tourists take a car to visit the safari park, no matter how fast or slow the car drives, it will have a great impact on the animals.
"When a car enters, it is usually combined with feeding. In this case, it will also affect the natural behavior of the animal."
"One of my core points is that in an ideal zoo, animals should show their natural state and behavior." For example, the brown bears in Beijing Zoo can hibernate in winter, which can be seen by tourists. "This is a very Superb display."
Shen Zhijun, director of Nanjing Hongshan Forest Zoo, also agrees with this view.
In his view, the cornerstone of the zoo is to respect animals, give them good welfare, and let them express their natural behavior.
A good zoo is a window to nature. It must show the true nature. It must not deliberately pull out animals for people to see, but draw humans into the natural environment.
3
When a guest came to visit the Hongshan Forest Zoo in Nanjing, Shen Zhijun took them to the Chinese Cat Museum in the park to see leopards.
Neither the guest nor Shen Zhijun could find the leopard. They slowly calmed down and looked at it and found it hidden in the grass less than 10 meters away.
He described the feeling at that moment, "It lives by our side, but like an elf, it cannot be familiar to you. It is mysterious. This is nature."
"Let animals show their natural behavior, let the public be touched by the charm of this natural behavior, and then people will be exposed to its habitat knowledge, and then think about how to protect it", Shen Zhijun explained how to rely on animal display to carry out protection education.
In Shen Zhijun's view, the development of conservation education also puts forward requirements for zoos. For example, zoos must put animal health and welfare first and have talents with the same values.
He and his colleagues are looking for ways to increase animal welfare.
Come up with dozens of methods of enrichment (to enrich the life of animals, meet the physiological and psychological needs of animals, and promote a series of measures taken by animals to show more natural behavior-reporter's note) methods, and use them in rotation; free up " "No sports grounds", animals that are sick, pregnant, or lactating can stay alone.
When animals are in a bad mood, they can also not see people.
The team of breeders caring for the animals also carried out "iterations."
He gradually replaced the breeders who had previously worked in gardening, security, and cleaning positions with undergraduates and graduate students with professional backgrounds, and he will continue to recruit talents.
Some foreign zookeepers graduated from prestigious universities such as Harvard and Cambridge, because "the job of a zookeeper is particularly important. It is definitely not a shovel officer, but is actually observing and researching animals." But the quality of the first-line zookeepers in domestic ordinary zoos is far Not reach this level.
Before becoming a breeder, Shen Liang was a driver in the zoo's logistics department.
In a staff adjustment, he applied to be transferred to raise tigers.
Without any professional background, relying on on-site teaching by a master, he has been familiar with the business in six months.
Shen Liang is not familiar with the terms "animal welfare" and "richness".
He believes that the beasts are happier in the zoo than in the wild, "sacrificing part of their freedom", but there is no pressure to survive, no predation, and the average life span is about 5 years longer than in the wild.
For the past half month, Shen Liang has been training the tiger to complete a diving action.
Recently, a tiger finally succeeded in following his instructions.
The tiger leaped high from a platform and fell into the water, splashing in all directions.
"If you take photos and videos, it is the most exciting and very beautiful."
This has become Shen Liang's most fulfilling thing recently.
He opened an account on Douyin to share his daily life of raising tigers.
Some netizens who watched his vibrato video were in a mixed mood, thinking that "he loves animals, but in a simple and somewhat backward way."
To become a good wildlife park, it is not only the zoo that needs to be transformed.
Li Chenqu, who studied at the Nantes Academy of Fine Arts in France, plans to create graduation works with the theme of the zoo. She has visited the zoo in China, Europe, the United States, and Australia.
Here she observes the expressions of animals and takes portraits of them.
In most zoos she walked through, people and animals were equal, observing each other without disturbing each other.
Once, she saw a group of sea lions in training. One sea lion neighed in the direction of the mountain alone. Li Chenqu, who had just lost love, stood there silently crying, "Although I don’t understand its language, I can feel it. A kind of doubt and pain are in it."
She felt that she was standing on the border of communicating with animals at that moment.
However, some domestic tourists seem impatient.
When they couldn't see the animals, they would shoot the glass of the stadium and whistle at the animal cage.
"They feel that after spending the tickets, they have to see more animals, otherwise they have to complain."
Huayi wants to tell readers that the real field is different from what everyone expects.
Many people think that when looking at animals in the wild, they are sitting in a car and running around on the prairie. Then there are groups of lions, leopards, giraffes, elephants, rhinos, etc., and there are all the animals they want to see.
But in fact, finding animals requires very high physical and mental power. Sometimes the jeep bumps on the prairie all night, and the searchlights shine all night, but no animals are seen.
"In the natural environment, people need to find animals." Shen Zhijun believes that if the zoo only has a bare concrete floor, there is no doubt that visitors can see the animals at a glance.
But what a good zoo displays is not animals, but the relationship between man and nature, and the habitat environment.
"After you go in, you can't find animals, that's right." Zhang Jinshuo remembers that when he was a visiting scholar in the UK, he saw a zoo that was very small, but very chic and delicate.
Although there are not many kinds of animals, the welfare of the animals is very good. There are mountains, water, rivers, and vegetation, just like the wild state.
He remembered visiting the park when he was a child, and the elephant was tied by an iron chain, but at that time, he didn't feel anything wrong.
After learning professional knowledge, understanding advanced methods and management concepts, and looking at these things in the past, he discovered that his previous practices were wrong.
Recently, Shen Zhijun wanted to renovate a design in the garden, which is a wooden plank road in Australia that tourists are familiar with.
The plank road stands on a high place, and people can look down on animals when standing on it.
He now realizes that this design will scare animals, and it is best to look up or up when visiting.
He feels that it is not good for the wooden plank road to surround the exhibition hall. Animals can be seen in 360 degrees. There is nowhere to hide and no right to choose.
The relationship between humans and animals has undergone a slow evolution.
While people slowly learned to love animals, the circus quietly withdrew from the city zoo.
"In the circus, people enjoy the feeling of looking down on animals as the ruler of all things. They are both arrogant and insignificant. They will soon be swallowed by natural disasters." Shen Zhijun said, "The existence of zoos actually triggers how we humans interact with each other. Thinking about how wild animals get along with nature and how to get along with nature, these two relationships are actually something people haven't thought about clearly."
Zhang Jinshuo believes that the backward concepts and management methods will withdraw from the zoo like a circus sooner or later.
"With the efforts of generations, the zoo will definitely continue to improve."
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Ma Yuping and intern Guo Yujie Source: China Youth Daily