Workers at the zoo make every effort to enrich the life of animals by providing a diversity of recreational equipment for them, even allowing intelligent animals such as orangutans to watch TV.
The amphibious reptile hall in Beijing Zoo resembles a tropical environment. The plants grow under tropic rainforest climatic conditions; seawater is brought in from tropical areas; and temperature and landscape is matched as closely as possible to the animals? place of origin. This also applies wherever possible to giant pandas, rhinoceros, birds and aquatic life.
Being a zoo however there is always a shortage of fresh air and sunshine in some of the cages. Small, cold steel cages used to raise animals are far from their natural environment. Fortunately, all this is improving. More flowers, trees, grass, soil and water are being introduced. Steel fences installed for separating visitors and animals have been knocked down. But for the safety of visitors, trenches have been dug to replace the fences.
After living in the cages for so long, some animals could not get used to having more freedom. It took a year for the workers in Beijing Zoo to have the rhinoceroses moved out of their cages and to enjoy their new open environment.
“Now the animals are fitter and stronger than they were used to be,” said rhinoceros keepers excitedly. But many problems still exist and money is needed to solve them. To this end, Beijing Zoo has called on society to sponsor animals at the zoo. Many citizens have responded.
Tang Li is one of them. “I often go to the zoo to visit the animals I sponsor. It?s like visiting my friends,” He said.
Zhang Yi, head of Shanghai Small Animal Protection Association, has donated more than 2 million yuan ($241,545.89) to adopting almost 1,000 dogs and cats abandoned by their hosts. He said that animals, particularly those with high intelligence, are likely to be psychologically hurt if they cannot obtain proper care or live in unfavorable conditions.
Animals have emotions and feelings of affliction and fear just as people do, said Professor Pan Wenshi, who believes people who hurt animals are seen as “terrorists” by their four-legged victims.
Are Animals Just Animals?
Not everyone believes providing “animal welfare” is a good thing however. Xing Hong, a hotel manager, said the concept is “inconceivable.” Xing, 47, said people his age all witnessed the shortage of food in the last century. The food problem is still prevalent in poor areas of China, and he believes people should be helped before the conditions of animals are improved. A salesperson working with Beijing?s Jingkelong Supermarket agrees with Xing. He said he was surprised when learning Britain has a law concerning pigs? welfare and thinks the law is somewhat hypocritical. “We don?t have the ability to guarantee the welfare of all our people, let alone for the animals,” he said.
According to a survey conducted by sina.com, involving almost 9,000 people, some 56.71 percent admit to having eaten wildlife, 14.24 percent said humans are more important than animals, and 19.79 percent said animals should be used by humans. Purposes of use should range from crime fighting and accompanying people to providing food and recreation for people. With regard to the experiments on live animals, 48.36 percent said it was acceptable. Some 34.6 percent believe eating animals as medicine is reasonable. Around 64.48 percent said they felt miserable when seeing animals being cruelly killed yet they would not prevent this method of slaughter.
Wang Defeng, professor of Fudan University in Shanghai, said that it is impractical to ban the use of animals, but people should try to utilize animals in a more humane way. He noted that the welfare of people and animals are not contradictory, which is a view held by the Chinese since ancient times. The professor also pointed to the way a philosophy like Buddhism viewed the animal kingdom.
Buddhism considers all of life to be evolving toward higher consciousness and sees all living things as sentient beings. To a Buddhist, any practice by which people sustain themselves at the expense of other sentient beings is considered wrong. Buddhism considers non-human life to be Divine just as is human life. Animals are seen to be an evolving kingdom of living creatures destined in time to attain perfect enlightenment. Since animals are considered to be traveling toward enlightenment just as people are, Buddhists believe animals should not be harmed, discouraged or hampered in their progress
“Guaranteeing the survival of human beings cannot be separated from that of animals,” said Gu Yue, a former meat eater, now a vegetarian. He urged people who eat meat to remember that humans and animals are equal in life.
The survey also showed that 88.31 percent of respondents called for legislation to crack down on the action of killing animals in an inhumane way and give a basic guarantee for the welfare of animals