The welfare of more than 20 private wildlife parks has become a cause for concern for experts at the China Wildlife Conservation Association and the National Association of Zoos.

These private zoos have been hit hard by the SARS outbreak as most of them had to close to the public during the past two months or so.

Without any income from tickets or other sources, the lives of the animals in these private zoos deteriorated.

Many have even questioned the wisdom of developing private safari parks, which has become fashionable in China over the past few years.

Li Cuihua, an official with the National Association of Zoos, said public or city zoos in China have four basic functions: protecting wildlife whose natural habitat is in danger; conducting scientific research; educating the public; and entertaining urban residents.

With low entry fees, public zoos are essentially for public welfare, not for profit.

By contrast, private zoos are usually located far from urban areas, Li noted.

One ticket to get into a private animal park may cost 100 yuan (US$12), which is almost 10 times the entry fee in public zoos.

Travelling the extra distance to those wildlife parks from surrounding towns or cities also adds to the cost.

Despite all these drawbacks, there has been a surge in the number of private zoos being built, mostly with the sole purpose of making money.

Chen Runsheng, secretary-general of the China Wildlife Conservation Association, said the growth of private wildlife parks may be detrimental to the protection of wild animals in China.

For instance, six wolves fled from the private Ningbo Dongqianhu Wildlife Zoo in East China's Zhejiang Province more than a year ago, Li Cuihua noted.

All the wolves were later located and killed for the safety of local residents. Autopsies proved that the freedom-hungry wolves had been suffering from lack of food.

A subsequent investigation revealed the wolves fled after destroying the thick iron wire of their cages because they were so hungry at the zoo and could bear it no longer.

The zoo owner, however, complained that his financial difficulties prevented him from feeding the wolves properly.

Wildlife experts are particularly opposed to proposals that city zoos merge with or be acquired by private companies. Zoos in town and city centres may be moved to the suburbs after such mergers.

One reason why such an idea has been proposed is that many local governments are no longer willing to allocate money for city zoos from their budgets every year.

Some business people who support possible mergers claim that they will contribute taxes to the cities.

But Li and Chen said they fear that such mergers will hurt public zoos and deprive the urban poor in particular of the chance to visit a zoo.

The government should take immediate measures to limit the construction of private zoos and strengthen management of them, Chen said.

(China Daily 06/28/2003 page5)

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