Popular Nanjing zoo champions animal welfare in a Shanghai display
One of the most popular zoos in China has brought its message of ethical animal care and native habitats to Shanghai, with a pop-up store at Shanghai Joy City mall. It's become a hit of the summer.
The Hongshan Forest Zoo in Nanjing, keen to boost revenue after the coronavirus pandemic nearly drove the venue to bankruptcy, is offering more than 60 products at the shop, including dolls, pendants, cushions, hairbands and scarves designed with South American saki monkeys and capybaras, Australian koalas and other popular animals.
Nanjing Hongshan Forest Zoo's pop-up shop will remain at Shanghai Joy City mall until September 1. It has proven extremely popular with the public.
"The cuteness of our animals and the fact that they live in an environment that is the freest and wildest that we can provide has created a bridge between them and the public," said Shen Zhijun, director of the zoo. "The products we have created not only help our revenue to improve animal welfare but also help educate the public on environmental and ecological protection."
It is fair to say that the zoo is probably the most popular in China because of the attitude it takes toward animal welfare. The zoo, which opened in 1928, was the first to cease animal performances in 2011 and then banned visitors from feeding animals three years later.
The zoo first came to widespread attention during the pandemic because 80 percent of its revenue was derived from ticket sales, which plummeted during public health lockdowns.
In 2021, after the first wave of the epidemic ebbed, Shen came out with an LED presentation about how the zoo's reduced revenue couldn't support the unique care it provided and put the zoo at risk of closure.
The national prominence garnered by the presentation and the zoo's "adopt an animal" program, catapulted the venue into one of the most popular sightseeing spots in Nanjing, if not in the country. Last year, the zoo received more than 7 million visitors, again proving that zoos can be popular without turning their animals into circus celebrities.
The zoo has also adopted innovative ideas to appeal to the public. Introductions to the animals were rewritten to make them more engaging. For example, the introduction to a wolf says: "Name: Blackie. Traits: After offending another wolf, he now walks with his tail between his legs."
The zoo has cameras broadcasting the daily lives of its animals online, and their images have been turned into cartoonish images on different products by designers.
Du Du the white-faced saki (above) is a top star of the zoo. Its image (below) is featured at the pop-up store.
Bu2ma, an artist known for creating the image of Panghu, or chubby tiger, is one of the artists cooperating with the zoo. He designed the main-theme poster for the pop-up store at Joy City.
"I never liked zoos even as a child," said the Beijing artist. "I've always loved animals, but I thought zoos that restricted and caged them were depriving them of their natural habitats. That changed when I became a volunteer at Hongshan Zoo, where I felt the animals were truly happy and well cared for."
Under the influence of Hongshan, several zoos, wildlife parks and aquariums in China have also adopted more ethical standards.
In 2017, Guangzhou Zoo ended its 24-year-old circus performances. In 2019, Shanghai Chang Feng Ocean World announced it was closing its white whale hall and returning two white whales, named Xiao Bai and Xiao Hui, to a bay in Iceland. A year later, the Qingdao Forest Wildlife World announced it would end all animal shows and focus on becoming a wildlife reserve.
Wildlife parks that allow interaction between visitors and animals run the risk of harming both.
Last week, some visitors at Shanghai Wildlife Park complained that they were jostled by belligerent kangaroos when trying to interact with them.
A visitor posted on social media that she and a friend were feeding joeys, or baby kangaroos, when an older kangaroo attacked her. She was diagnosed with an eye infection and muscle strain.
Some visitors to the Shanghai Wildlife Park who tried to interact with kangaroos found themselves on the receiving end of belligerent behavior.
The park, which sells animal food to visitors and is open during evening hours in summer, explained that interacting with kangaroos is generally safe, but the marsupials can get "over-excited" at night.
Current Chinese law doesn't ban animal performances or interaction between animals and visitors in zoos, but it does outlaw abusive treatment of animals.
Hongshan Zoo director Shen said he thinks zoos need to carefully consider their purpose.
"I went to many zoos as a child, and I began thinking a lot about the purpose of zoos since I started my work in Hongshan," he said. "I have come to the conclusion that our purpose is to act as a guide – to guide public knowledge on how to treat animals and nature, and to guide public opinion on how co-exist with wildlife."
