penguin photo here for anyone interested: http://www.zoochat.com/859/penguins-345377/ I have put up some photos of the hybrid ibis x spoonbills as well, with all the links on the original photo for convenience: http://www.zoochat.com/859/oriental-white-ibis-threskiornis-melanocephalus-234685/ I haven't uploaded all the photos I took at the zoo, just a few for discussion purposes. The others will have to wait.
I've managed to upload the photos from my small camera now (so mostly enclosure photos). The photos from my big camera will have to wait.
a few more photos now added to the Chengdu Zoo gallery from my proper camera, including more of the interesting Tibetan blue bears.
Person climbs into Tiger-enclosure : Man climbs into Bengal white tiger enclosure at zoo - ODD - Globaltimes.cn
More on the tiger-accident ( with video ) : Chengdu zoo: Man jumps into tiger enclosure to sacrifice himself as food - Mirror Online
I just went to Chengdu Zoo this morning and the polar bear exhibit was occupied by a Tibetan blue bear (with two more in the other enclosure) and the other half sloth bears (I think, they were much smaller than the pair of Asiatic black bears next to the sunbears). The reason is that the polar bears passed away in November 2012. A signage in Chinese confirms this. Oh, by the way, the clouded leopard and jaguars are back in their lush enclosures. The small mammals house is open and there are many interesting species there such as grey wolf, meerkat, raccoon dog and golden cat. And now, the big deers enclosures have been improved and the small deers enclosures are under construction.
I remember the large deer species being sika, sambar, white lipped, Pere's David, red and fallow. I completely missed the opportunity to see the small deers because they were off-exhibit as I said before. Pretty sure they had hog deers and tufted deers though.
Chengdu Zoo - terrible animal welfare, outdated enclosures I'm currently halfway through writing a university dissertation on how terrible this zoo was. I visited on 1st January this year, straight after Chengdu Panda Base. Did we go to the same place?
Hi Chlidonias, your description of the zoo was very accurate and informative but what I disagreed with was the part quoted above. Suffice to say, I have only visited Beijing Zoo, Chengdu Panda Base, Chengdu Zoo, and Shanghai Wild Animal Park in China (also Taipei Zoo if we want to count Taiwan) so I am sure that there are far worse out there to compare it with. My Chinese partner told me this was 'average' compared to most Chinese zoos. However, Chengdu was definitely by far the most squalid and rundown zoo I've visited in my life. I noticed you went in 2013, so perhaps things have deteriorated since then? It's not unheard of. I know that the director of Beijing Zoo was recently fired for mismanagement and corruption. The primate houses were very poorly planted with little in the way of greenery or privacy, just filthy barren concrete cells smeared with fecel matter and rotten vegetation. The big cats were running fretfully up and down in woefully inadequate quarters with zero privacy from the guests pounding on the glass. They also looked extremely malnourished with their bones sticking out at all angles. The hippos were being goaded by guests, all manner of garbage thrown into their open mouths. When the hippo had had enough of being teased, he launched himself against the glass in an attempt to get at the guests. One Asian elephant was rocking back and forth displaying stereotypical behaviour whilst another smashed its trunk repeatedly against the iron bars of the sleeping quarters. At no enclosure did any of the animals look healthy or well cared for, and there was no way this zoo would pass any animal welfare inspections in the UK. Perhaps the most distressing part was all the pet animals squashed into tiny tubs being sold outside the zoo gates, as though they were mere toys. How many hours they would have been cramped into those little containers in direct sunlight is beyond telling. Perhaps I've been spoiled by Colchester Zoo where all the animals are housed in large, naturalistic enclosures with off-view areas to retreat to when they want privacy. Either way, I'd be happy to hear your thoughts.
The intention of my opening paragraph was not to portray the zoo as a "world's best" sort of place, but simply to put aside the general perception which people have - even on this forum - that Chinese zoos are torture chambers where animals starve in tiny cells. There are a number of cages and sections at Chengdu which would not be acceptable in Europe or America (in particular those for most of the primates) but for most of the zoo you could very easily find equivalent cages in Western zoos. Zoo reviews are fairly subjective though, they depend on the person's own prejudices and knowledge; for my reviews I prefer to compare Asian zoos to Asian zoos. However I struggle to see how the zoo could be considered "average" for a Chinese zoo. But, with that said... that really doesn't sound like my visit at all. There were a number of bad areas and a number of good areas, but "squalid and rundown" would not be at all an accurate description. I have no idea what the zoo is like right now, but certainly things can down-turn quickly in Asia. For example, in Malaysia the Melaka Zoo went from being one of the best in Asia (when I visited in 2011) to amongst the poorest (visited 2014) due to corruption and neglect. indeed, most of the primates were housed very poorly. I covered all the primates in one paragraph of my review, and the start of that discusses the mostly-large and well-planted enclosures (presumably these are either no longer in this state, or you missed/did not mention them). The whole baboon/mandrill complex, in contrast, was like a series of prison yards - small concrete-walled sections of land - and even worse were the very small concrete cages elsewhere for macaques and guenons. The leopard cages I noted as being "very small", however none of the cats I saw were in the state you describe. I can't comment on these observations of course. However the elephants were relaxed when I was there (although I don't pay much attention to elephants in zoos. I think I may have only seen one, as well). I can't recall the hippos of the top of my head, but I suspect their enclosure was one of the very small ones? I can't say that any animals at the zoo looked unhealthy, apart for some individuals of the larger monkeys (such as the baboons and macaques) which were really the only species kept in extremely poor enclosures. Most animals at the zoo, in fact, looked in very good health. I don't know one way or the other but I dare say the animals being sold outside were by private vendors, and that is just a fact of life in China.
Whether representative or not: I guess it does not help looking at Chengdu Zoo with western perceptions and expectations. Your - supposedly (I am guessing here) control lot is not even vaguely representative of the average Asian zoo. So whereas I cannot say one way or the other, I really have my doubts as to the scientific purpose your study would serve. Out of interest some questions immediately pop in my mind: What is the hypothesis of your dissertation? How does the Chengdu Zoo come into that hypothesis in the first place? What comparative studies have you taken on board to compare the Chengdu Zoo standards to those of other zoos in the region or other Continents? Did you even contact the Chengdu Zoo staff at all? Did you ask for their assistance, guidance, input and feedback in your research? Have you taken on board any opinions of local people and visiting public? How does this relate to the other Asian zoos you fleetingly mentioned?
Hi Chlidonias and Kifaru Bwana, I apologise that I am unable to reply to your questions properly at the moment due to writing up this dissertation but I promise to go through each one as soon as I'm done, hopefully around the end of July.
Broadly speaking, your description of the zoo bears very little resemblance to what I saw in August 2018. Animals were not in poor condition. Whilst I agree that the primate housing is inadequate, I'm not sure that I would use words like filthy, rotting and 'smeared with faecal matter'. Barren is fair, although there are also plenty of examples where the primate exhibits transcend these conditions. Big cat exhibits range from what you describe to much better. With regards to the hippos, whose enclosure is by no means a high point, the word 'garbage' is a problem. Do you mean actual refuse or do you just mean sugary snacks? There's a world of difference. I believe the elephant exhibit I saw is fairly new. It is much better than average for Asia. The problem with what you have said is that: a) Your comments about the overall health of the animals and the quality of care they are receiving are hard to take seriously. and b) You are cherry-picking the worst parts of the zoo, suggesting they represent the overall standard of the zoo when they do not, and then arguing that the zoo is 'terrible', when it patently is not. If your point of comparison is somewhere like Chester then you will think poorly of it but you don't have to go far to find zoos that it will fair much better against. I'm not just talking about Beijing Zoo, there are plenty of places in Western Europe that will offer views of animals in cramped conditions that are nonetheless recognised to among the best in the world. (I realise @hao_bao hasn't been online for three years, but Chli asked me for comment on their views and first person seemed more polite somehow.)
Asked here (just to plug the other useful thread by @FunkyGibbon about the various collections in Chengdu): How to Chengdu it - A guide to the city's collections
I have uploaded my photos from last year's visit to Chengdu finally. The thing that impressed me most about the zoo is the signage; a real effort has been made in this area, which I have tried to document in the gallery. When a zoo does the less expensive things well it's much easier to get behind it, as it shows intent to be better. Chengdu Zoo - ZooChat Chengdu is in the top tier of Chinese metropolitan zoos, but there are a handful I'd put ahead of it.
