A Chinese zoo owner has been criticized online for feeding dead animals from the zoo to other inhabitants, reports the Daily Mail.Tan Decai is the owner, cleaner, carer of the animals, ticket seller, veterinarian and tour guide at the Wanzhou Park in Chongqing, southwest China.
Source: news163
He has admitted to feeding dead animals from his zoo to others living there, and while some internet users have defended his hard work, others are calling for the animals to be moved to a sanctuary because of the poor conditions in which they live.
Source: news163
He houses close to 20 animals, including a black bear, a camel, a lion and a monkey, and entrance costs around $1,50.
Source: news163
Recently, one of his ostriches was mauled by a jackal after he got too close to the enclosure. There was nothing Tan could have done to stop the attack, but he chose to feed the dead ostrich to his lion. He informed reporters that "there is no point in wasting good meat."
Source: news163
Journalists took photos which revealed a 20-year-old lioness being taunted by Tan while lying in her 200 square foot cage, as well as monkeys, foxes and other ostriches in cages much too small for their own good.
Source: news163
He justified his actions by saying the monkey was "being too naughty" and was therefore put into a small cage.
Source: news163
Tan said his wife works away from home and his own children, who are grown up, do not want to see their father. He told reporters:
I have no concept of family, I have been here so many years.
Source: news163
Tan had recently hired a worker to help him with the cleaning, who was getting paid less than $300 a month, but he has since had surgery and is in recovery. It is unclear if the employee will return.
Source: news163
All the money from ticket sales goes into feeding the animals, and if there is any left over, that turns into profit. Tan only makes enough to spend around $580 on the animals' food each month. Because of the financial troubles, Tan buys chicken for the lion and the black bear, and the chickens are fed vegetable scraps and rice.
Source: news163
Internet users slammed him on a Chinese platform, news163:
Compared to the animals inside, the person outside is the beast. Why is it not banned? his demonstrates the pure evil of human nature.
Source: news163
On Weibo, one user suggested a more helpful solution while still keeping the animals' best interests at heart:
Cursing will not help this man. He should be given help for these animals and help for him.
Source: news163
Elisa Allen, Director of PETA UK, got involved:
From animals' perspective, zoos – whether a one-man band or a facility with a full staff – are prisons in which they're denied everything that's natural and important to them and where they must spend every single day as living exhibits. People who buy tickets to see animals locked up in cages are paying to prolong their misery.
PETA Asia contacted Tan when the story emerged online and are apparently in the process of helping him to transfer the animals to a sanctuary at the time of publish.While these animals will hopefully have a happy ending to their captivity story very soon thanks to PETA Asia, millions of animals are still stuck in cages, enclosures or buildings every day.Tourists and visitors need to be informed of the harm inflicted upon these animals, physically and emotionally, from being entrapped in a cage. Animals were made to roam free in their natural habitat, and they are not there for humans to take pictures with.
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The Tragedy Of Life In A Zoo Summed Up In One Painful Photo
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