It must seem like a never-ending curse for Shoushan Zoo.
The majority of Taiwanese media have spent the last two weeks issuing a series of reports on the zoo in Kaohsiung. It started with an investigation into a workplace accident in which a crocodile bit off the arm of a veterinarian. But once it emerged that the zoo had incorrectly classified the crocodile's species, the coverage changed. Over the past few days effort has been put into largely speculative investigations, such as why animals in the zoo don't breed and the possibility that an elephant might be homosexual.
The media's coverage spends most of its time mocking the zoo instead of discussing the real issues at hand.
The safety of workers and visitors, the wellbeing of the animals, the success of the breeding programs and the correct classification of each animal's species and gender are all directly related to the staff's professionalism and ability. For a zoo to clearly know it was putting together two elephants of the same gender, but to still hold a wedding ceremony just to create excitement and get media coverage, violates professional ethics.
Over the past decade or so, Shoushan has been criticized by animal protection groups. First, the animals' quality of life is poor. The problems that have been found include animals with physical and psychological health problems, the staff's inhumane ideas about caring for animals, the unsafe enclosures and visitors' harassment of animals.
The wellbeing of its animals is often an overall measure of a zoo's professionalism. A long-standing lack of funds is a direct cause of Shoushan's failings, but the root cause is that those responsible have ignored the role it should play in a modern society.
We should not let the distortion of these topics further distract the focus from the important issues. I call on the Kaohsiung City Government to perform a thorough health review of the zoo as soon as possible and take firm steps to correct the problems, overhaul the zoo or shut it down. Otherwise, when the World Games come to Kaohsiung in 2009 and the city presents itself to the world, the zoo will still be a blot not fit for tourists to visit.
Kurtis Pei is a professor at National Pingtung University's Institute of Wildlife Preservation.
Translated by Marc Langer
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