The Taipei Zoo has come under criticism from Taipei city councilors following a second incident in less than a month in which zoo animals have breached security perimeters.
A 59-year-old zookeeper surnamed Lee (李) was hospitalized and remains in intensive care after being attacked by a Formosan black bear on Saturday.
Lee sustained a head injury, a broken rib and lacerations to his hands and feet after allegedly opening the gates to the bear cages without checking that all the cages were empty first, as per zoo procedure.
Photo: CNA, courtesy of Taipei Zoo
Regulations state that caretakers should not share a space with animals, especially with the Formosan black bear, which has a level one dangerous animal rating, the zoo said.
A Bengal tiger on June 16 escaped from a keeping zone and made it to a second checkpoint before being noticed, tranquilized and returned to the keeping zone. No staff or visitors were harmed in the incident, the zoo said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) criticized what she said was insufficient training and mismanagement at the zoo, calling for the zoo to implement sweeping changes in management.
Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said the zoo was ranked highly in the region and that she believed all staff members were highly trained individuals, suggesting instead that the city government look into whether zoo staffing is sufficient and whether zoo regulations were being implemented.
“The city council is willing to offer budgetary support if the zoo is short on staff,” Wu said.
The zoo said it would step up training of zookeepers and consider examinations of standard operating procedures — such as noting the number of animals in the area — once per year.
Zoo official Shih Chih-ching (石之菁) said that all of the zoo’s animals are handled by solitary staff members on rotating shifts. The only exception to this are the elephant cages, which have a two-person crew, Shih said.
With 120 staff, the zoo would need to double its workforce to provide care for all the animals, Shih said, adding that overseas zoos also use single-staff zookeeper shifts.
Taipei Department of Education Director Tang Chih-min (湯智民) said the department would look into manpower distribution once it receives a complete report on Saturday’s incident.
The Chinese-language Apple Daily quoted Shih as saying that the primary cause of the incident was Lee’s oversight, as Lee, a 14-year veteran with the bears, should be knowledgeable in such matters.
However, Shih said that the bear in question had recently been moved and had not been cared for by Lee before, which might have contributed to its aggression.
Separately, Kaohsiung City Zoo Director Chuang Hsuan-chih (莊絢智) said that the zoo’s standard operating procedures for Formosan black bears states that zookeepers should be certain that bear cages are empty before entering.
The zoo, which has three such bears, had an incident two years ago in which two bears attacked each other, causing the death of one, Chuang said, highlighting the threat the bears pose.
Additional reporting by Ko You-hao
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