Humans the real animals at trashy Shanghai Zoo

Herbivores such as deer typically feed on a diet of green plants. Yet for some odd reason, visitors to the Shanghai Zoo tend to think that its wildlife subsist on plastics.



Autopsies on three fallow deer who were found dead in the zoo over three sequential days in May found more than 6 kilograms of "foreign matter" in each of the deer's stomachs. The garbage, primarily plastic refuse such as bags, caused intestinal obstruction in the deer's' complex digestive systems, resulting in what zoo veterinarians say must have been extremely painful deaths.



Zoo officials told local media that they blamed "uncivilized" visitors for feeding the animals, but the real blame should fall on the zoo for allowing this kind of undisciplined behavior in the first place.



The death of these deer was certainly not the first time that zoo animals here have suffered by the hands of humans. Since 2006, 14 other mammals of various species have been reported as perishing from indigestible trash tossed in by Shanghai zoogoers. The earliest reported instance of intestinal obstruction dates back to 1993, when a 15-year-old giraffe named Hai Bin died from eating plastic bags fed to it by visitors.



Chinese and foreign-language social media have described Shanghai Zoo as a "landfill of trash" and depicted the "deplorable" conditions that its animals must live in. Even more deplorable, however, are the behavior of zoogoers, whom are repeatedly referred to on travel review websites such as TripAdvisor as "the real animals at this zoo." In 2013, a video showing visitors to the Shanghai Zoo pelting lions with over 70 plastic water bottles went viral, prompting the zoo to issue a public statement pleading with zoogoers to "show mercy."



That the Shanghai Zoo has to actually beg its visitors to show compassion to animals is itself an indication that perhaps locals simply don't deserve a zoo. But this also proves that the zoo's authorities have utterly failed to protect and care for its animals.



Authorities should know by now that some token words on signs and the occasional statement to the press are not a deterrent. A newly installed infrared sensor that automatically warns zoo visitors not to feed animals is also unlikely to dissuade anyone from doing what they like.



The head of the zoo's primate section recently told the Youth Daily that they only have four zookeepers to supervise. With the number of visitors to Shanghai Zoo during the first three days of the last National Day holiday reaching 112,000, and the average daily number of visitors at 37,000, it is mission impossible for what only amounts to a few dozens zookeepers in the entire zoo to keep an eye on the animals at all times.



And yet, the annual reported revenue from ticket sales at the Shanghai Zoo is upwards of 70 million yuan ($11.29 million). This, along with additional government subsidies, should surely allow for a larger security budget. Volunteer animal activists enlisted to patrol the grounds might prove more useful than the outsourced, old bao'an (guards) who are currently employed by the zoo.



A number of preventative steps could also be taken, for instance prohibiting any outside food from entering the premises, just as museums do. If they are forced to pay for expensive zoo food, then perhaps visitors will be discouraged from feeding it to animals. Designated feeding grounds where children can purchase vegetables to hand-feed hardy animals with strong stomachs such as goats might also appease over-excited visitors.



Since shame and death don't seem to matter to Shanghai zoogoers, the only effective solution, then, is stricter supervision and more severe penalties and punishment of offenders. Despite constructing cages to protect people from its animals, the zoo has not taken any effective measures to protect its animals from people.

