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Aftermath of ‘Animal Olympics’ story
Date:2006-11-21
Today’s Shanghai Daily carried an exclusive news report on the front page, announcing some news that many animal lovers were probably eager to hear: the Shanghai Wild Animal Park has stopped its “Animal Olympics.”
Zhu Huanian, our news editor, said she assigned Lu Feiran to cover the story because Shanghai Daily always receives complaints from foreign readers, particularly on the Animal Olympics and Shanghai Zoo’s practice of earning money by charging visitors for pictures of themselves with small zoo animals.
“I heard recently that the Shanghai Zoo had stopped offering the photo service, so I figured it was a good time to check the status of the ‘Animal Olympics’,” Zhu said.
In fact, the whole story began with a picture that was published on the Daily weeks ago, showing a baby orangutan trying to light a torch during the opening ceremony of the “Olympics.”
Animal lovers went to see the spectacle for themselves, Lu said. They found a kangaroo boxing with humans and visitors taking pictures with bears that had their nails cut, to avoid any accidents.
Complaints from the international animal protection foundation soon flooded the park officials’ mailbox.
“The Animal Olympics, held every two years, has never caused an uproar before, but this year we received complaints, so we stopped it,” Su Feilong, a park official, told Lu.
Park officials refused to comment further, or give details on the living conditions of the animals, or what measures they had taken to protect the creatures during their contact with humans, Lu said.
Right after the Daily hit the streets, the Associated Press filed a story “Shanghai cancels ‘Animal Olympics’ after cruelty complaints” based on Shanghai Daily’s report, while local blog Shanghaiist.com published the post “Is nothing sacred?!?! Shanghai Animal Olympics canceled.”
Well, maybe that’s the end of this Animal Olympics story. But the conflict between human being’s right for entertainment and the well-being of animals might crop up somewhere else in the future. Let’s hope that everyone learns some form of lesson from this and we should remind ourselves to not build our fun upon other people or animals pain.
Zhu Huanian, our news editor, said she assigned Lu Feiran to cover the story because Shanghai Daily always receives complaints from foreign readers, particularly on the Animal Olympics and Shanghai Zoo’s practice of earning money by charging visitors for pictures of themselves with small zoo animals.
“I heard recently that the Shanghai Zoo had stopped offering the photo service, so I figured it was a good time to check the status of the ‘Animal Olympics’,” Zhu said.
In fact, the whole story began with a picture that was published on the Daily weeks ago, showing a baby orangutan trying to light a torch during the opening ceremony of the “Olympics.”
Animal lovers went to see the spectacle for themselves, Lu said. They found a kangaroo boxing with humans and visitors taking pictures with bears that had their nails cut, to avoid any accidents.
Complaints from the international animal protection foundation soon flooded the park officials’ mailbox.
“The Animal Olympics, held every two years, has never caused an uproar before, but this year we received complaints, so we stopped it,” Su Feilong, a park official, told Lu.
Park officials refused to comment further, or give details on the living conditions of the animals, or what measures they had taken to protect the creatures during their contact with humans, Lu said.
Right after the Daily hit the streets, the Associated Press filed a story “Shanghai cancels ‘Animal Olympics’ after cruelty complaints” based on Shanghai Daily’s report, while local blog Shanghaiist.com published the post “Is nothing sacred?!?! Shanghai Animal Olympics canceled.”
Well, maybe that’s the end of this Animal Olympics story. But the conflict between human being’s right for entertainment and the well-being of animals might crop up somewhere else in the future. Let’s hope that everyone learns some form of lesson from this and we should remind ourselves to not build our fun upon other people or animals pain.
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M.Adsley [2006-11-24 10:12 PM
]This is fantastic news!!!
Dear Editor, what fantastic news,i saw this horror published in the British press, sickening would be an understatement ,such horrendous animal cruelty is beyond belief ,this is a triumph for the people who have applied the pressure, now the worry is will this horror move somewhere else in China, hopefully not. once again thankyou for this very good news yours Harpa F Bull London England.
This is great news. I saw these horrible pictures in the press.
Bergthora H. Birgisdottir
Iceland
Bergthora H. Birgisdottir
Iceland
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