Root of the tragedy

AN UNFORTUNATE REMINDER: A tiger statue still stands outside the scandal-hit Shenyang Forestry Wild Animals Zoo in Liaoning Province, where 11 Siberian tigers died of malnutrition (YAO JIANFENG)

According to the Beijing-based Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens (CAZG), zoos first began to open in China a century ago. Although they reached their peak in popularity in the 1950s, there were 212 zoos operating nationwide in 2006. Local authorities are still in charge of most zoos, but there is increasing investment from the private sector.

Shenzhen Safari Park, which was established in 1993, was the first privately-run wildlife zoo on the Chinese mainland. In the subsequent two to three years, similar wildlife zoos with simulated environments were established in cities such as Shanghai.

In 1997, the Guangzhou Xiangjiang Safari Park was opened to the public, developing a new economic growth point for the local tourism industry and creating great momentum for the construction of such zoos throughout China.

According to statistics from the CAZG, as of 2006 more than 100 privately run zoos were established in China.

Following a brief profit-making period, most of the wildlife zoos fell into a state of indebtedness. Currently at least two out of every three such zoos throughout the country are struggling financially, according to the CAZG.

"The motivation for private enterprises to invest in zoos is simply to pursue business profits. Once there are no more profits, they will give up and leave the animals to die," said Professor Liu to Xinmin Weekly News.

Liu Mingyu said that such zoos have a negative effect upon the goals of educating the public and popularizing science. As a service provided for the benefit of the general public, zoos should be under the management of the government, not private enterprises.

"Privately run zoos should not have been built in China. The industry is currently in a defective state," said Liu Nonglin, President of the CAZG, to Sanlian Lifeweek magazine.

However, following mass urbanization in China over the past 30 years, more people have streamed into the cities, while property developers have covetously eyed the prime real estate occupied by the traditionally popular inner-city zoos.

The demand for land in golden areas of the city has prompted many zoos operated by local government authorities to decamp to more spacious sites outside urban areas, where they can build up stocks and free animals from the confinement of cages.

"It may seem a good thing that old zoos are replaced with new safari parks where animals can live in the open air instead of cages. The new zoos are situated far from residential areas, however, which means that fewer people visit them, and their primary income is greatly reduced," said Hu Zhongping, Secretary General of the CAZG.

The relocated zoos were larger, and often had more animals to feed and far higher maintenance costs. According to Hu, privatization was often a direct consequence of this.

"Privatization is usually the last straw because governments stop supporting them," said Hu.

Liu Nonglin said that privatization of zoos was a backward step, because private enterprises would only give priority to making money, not providing a service to the public.

"Many private enterprises invest in wildlife zoos with the secret aim of obtaining real estate," Liu Nonglin said.

"Conservation is only a cover," he said. Because there are clear regulations prohibiting the occupation of urban green areas, such as parks and zoos, private enterprises claim to use public-private joint management to justify moving zoos away from inner-city areas to suburban areas, so that their real estate operations can be launched around both the old and new sites.

On the other hand, the public-private joint management model also easily confuses the relationship between making profits and protecting animals, which will lead to lack of clearly differentiated responsibilities between private owners and various government departments, said Liu Nonglin.

He said that governments had always allocated large amounts of money to help private enterprises to manage the zoos, but could not provide enough supervision of the use of the money and their activities.

"Because of a lack of effective supervision, we are seeing many problems, particularly with private zoos. We see late payments of workers' wages, growing debt, poor feeding standards and inadequate management techniques, because private owners have spent the money on their other businesses, such as real estate and tourism projects."

According to reports, Yang Zhenhua, Board Chairman of the SFWAZ, has invested large sums of money into his own Shengjing International Golf Club, which is also situated in the Qipanshan Development Zone where the zoo is located.

A new start?

Following the incident at the SFWAZ, the Shenyang Qipanshan Administration Committee has taken over the zoo, while the Shenyang Municipal Government has allocated 5 million yuan ($732,000) for rescuing the remaining animals and another 2 million yuan ($293,000) for restoring the zoo's normal operations, said Zhang Jinghui, spokesman for the municipal government, at a press conference on March 14.

In addition to this, more than 20 sets of heating and lighting facilities have been installed. Disinfection and ventilation measures have been adopted and food and water supplies have also been improved.

In regards to the regulation of privately run zoos, a draft of the Anti-cruelty to Animals Law was published on the Internet on March 17 to solicit public opinions. The draft bans animal fighting and makes it illegal to mistreat animals raised for commercial purposes by failing to provide them with adequate food and water.

At the same time, the CAZG is considering revision of the Urban Zoo Management Regulations, and the revised version will be submitted to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development in the near future for approval, according to Liu Nonglin.