BS: Chinese zoo horror

Subject: BS: Chinese zoo horror
From: IWTATBM
Date: 23 May 07 - 05:35 PM

I am sure Mudcaters are a compasionate bunch and thought you might be interested in watching a video that apperaed on Sky News yesterday. It shows the appauling treatment of animals in its zoos, that needs to be seen to be believed. If you are touched by this video please consider contacting your local Chinese Embassy to register your horror and request that it be stamped out.

Thanks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOjMi9Obs8o

Subject: RE: BS: Chinese zoo horror
From: gnu
Date: 23 May 07 - 06:13 PM

I will not watch it. I will say that I find zoos absolutely unacceptable. I even find lobster tanks on display in grocery stores absolutely unacceptable. Makes me sick when I walk by them... and, I am a hunter and fisherman. Oh well.....

Subject: RE: BS: Chinese zoo horror
From: GUEST,Scoville at Dad's
Date: 23 May 07 - 07:14 PM

I'm not watching it either, because I know it will be worse than whatever I can imagine.

While, ideally, I'd like to see animals in their natural habitats, I think it's a bit shortsighted to condemn all zoos considering there are so many species that are so endangered in the world right now. Not all zoos are Hell-holes.

Subject: RE: BS: Chinese zoo horror
From: Mrrzy
Date: 23 May 07 - 11:00 PM

Hey, they execute criminals by organ donation. I'm not quite as worried about their zoos, somehow.

Subject: RE: BS: Chinese zoo horror
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 24 May 07 - 03:25 AM

For those of us with slow connections who can't watch it perhaps you might state, in simple and preferably in reasonably non-offensive language, exactly what it is that has horrified you?

John

Subject: RE: BS: Chinese zoo horror
From: SINSULL
Date: 24 May 07 - 11:44 AM

I made the mistake of watching some film of the treatment of dogs and cats in China. They were held in tiny cages, starved, and kicked and maimed for fun before being killed and skinned. The fur is being sold to manufacturers as FAKE FUR!

Subject: RE: BS: Chinese zoo horror
From: guitar
Date: 24 May 07 - 11:53 AM

So you would have wild animals out there in the wild where the get killed, hunted, and the vanish for good, and yet when there are in zoo's at lest they have a chance of living whereas out in the wild they don't because of hunters, and anmals that fed on prey

Subject: RE: BS: Chinese zoo horror
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 24 May 07 - 12:37 PM

Sinsull, I avoided a film on that (I'm sure it was one advertised on the same site as the snake eating the rabbits). I just knew it would be horrendous and I'm sure this one on the zoos is just as bad so I won't be watching that either.

IWTATBM, is there some easy way (that would encourage more people) to protest this or do we just find the address of the local Chinese embassy and write?

Guitar, you're point is a good one - it is important to protect endangered species - but that doesn't mean that we should condone cruelty. It is possible to have zoos where animals are protected, safe and happy. Zoos that operate in a different way should be closed.

Subject: RE: BS: Chinese zoo horror
From: Bee
Date: 24 May 07 - 12:56 PM

I'm all for good zoos: there's one or two I've been to and loved for the way the animals are housed and treated. But before we pile on those evil Chinese people: I visited the huge Amsterdam zoo in the seventies, and I sincerely hope it is vastly improved. For such an enlightened country, the zoo at that time was tragic. Tigers paced and growled endlessly, alone in tiny cages; a large bear, also alone in a small cage, stood and held the bars and shook them for as long as I could bear to stay. A large wolf in a dog-size kennel looked up at me with suffering intelligence in its eyes, and I am not exaggerating - it was a startling and disturbing encounter. I couldn't get out of there fast enough, and still feel bad every time I think of it.

And to second John in K.: Many of us can't look. A bitty summary is a welcome courtesy.

Subject: RE: BS: Chinese zoo horror
From: IWTATBM
Date: 24 May 07 - 03:54 PM

This is what can be seen in the video John – it's not nice. Twice a day in Harbin Wildlife Park animals are eaten alive by tigers, purely for visitor entertainment. This is considered a family event and parents and children watch from a bus driven into the enclosure. The overweight, overfed tigers can be seen to eat a live calf that has been tipped from a truck into the centre. As they are not hungry the tigers don't dispatch the animal quickly, but eat it at leisure. The calf can still be heard crying out 10 minutes later. At the same time visitors can be seen feeding terrified live chickens through small exit windows in the bus. In another clip at another zoo, bears are forced to pull cars, walk on tightropes and twirl batons of fire. The reporter was told the animals were more scared of the beating they would get if they didn't perform than the risk of being burned. There were other awful images but I think you get the picture.

Eanjay, writing to embassies, newspapers etc is a good way of exposing this sort of cruelty; the more people who object, the more likely the bad publicity will see it stopped. I'm sure there are other, perhaps more effective things that can be done but to be honest I'm not really an expert on this.

Subject: RE: BS: Chinese zoo horror
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 24 May 07 - 04:03 PM

Well, I'm glad I didn't see it - I would have found that very upsetting. Hopefully people will write in and voice their concerns.

Subject: RE: BS: Chinese zoo horror
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 24 May 07 - 05:27 PM

"and, I am a hunter and fisherman"

Hunters and fishermen are just as bad as, if not worse than, zoos. They make me even sicker.