A very sad zoo

On our first planned weekend activity after the mid-quarter vacation, we all went out the Siberian Tiger Park outside of Harbin, which "protects" several species of tigers and claims to plan to reintroduce them into the wild. Touring that park was one of the most depressing days I've had in China, especially highlighted by the fact that the government considers the park a shining example of their efforts to protect wildlife and the environment.

The tigers are fenced up into small enclosures of dead grass where tourists drive through in caged vans to snap their pictures. There are also a fair amount of tigers (and some lions) that are being held with two or three other animals in cages that couldn't have been more than 5 meters X 5 meters. Everywhere there were ads about the "wildness training" that the tigers were receiving, with pictures of (not particularly healthy-looking) tigers jumping through the air to catch a chicken or a goat. However, when we asked our guide, she informed us that none of the tigers had succesfully been reintroduced to the wild - big surprise. One particularly disgusting aspect of the park is that tourists are allowed to buy meat ($1 for a strip of beef, $6 for a chicken, $50 for a goat) to throw to the tigers - just like in the wild, I suppose. Some of the guys in our program bought a chicken and found it entertaining to watch the tigers fight over it until one of the slightly less diseased-looking ones won out. I couldn't wait to get out of there.



[1-A tiger approaching a van of tourists, 2-Not the most expansive territory]




[1-A lion and cubs, 2-The tiger who won the fight for the chicken my classmates bought]

Up to top