Shoushan Zoo in Kaohsiung has made national news at least four times this year, all in a negative light.
In February, a chimpanzee bit off part of a three-year-old boy's finger while his father was holding him close to the animal. Two month's later, the zoo shocked the nation -- and subsequently drew international attention -- when a veterinarian had his forearm bitten off by a crocodile while he was trying to treat the sick animal. It was later learned that the vet mistakenly shot the crocodile with antibiotic darts instead of tranquilizers.
But, that wasn't the end of the tale.
PHOTO: HOU CHENG-HSU, TAIPEI TIMES
After learning the zoo identified the animal as a Nile crocodile during media coverage, a crocodile breeder in Tainan said the zoo's identification of the animal was incorrect.
report
After a report on Pingtung Technology University's Wild Animal Information Web site, the zoo admitted its mistake by confirming the animal was in fact a salt-water crocodile.
Later that month, the zoo admitted that an elephant named Ali was indeed a female after previously telling the public it was a male.
Ali had been married to a female elephant named Annie in a wedding ceremony staged by the zoo five years ago. The zoo argued that the wedding was held to attract tourists.
Earlier this week, the zoo admitted it did not realize a pair of its newly-arriving raccoons had escaped in March until workers discovered a huge hole next to the racoon enclosure.
inconvenient truth
These incidents, at times humorous, expose an inconvenient truth about the government-run zoo which the Kaohsiung City government must deal with.
Founded in 1978 in Kaohsiung's Sitzyywan (西子灣), the zoo was relocated to its current location at Shoushan (
Visits to the Shoushan Zoo may be one of the most common childhood memories shared by the majority of Kaohsiung residents.
The Shoushan Zoo, regarded as the major public zoo in southern Taiwan, did not, however, prosper like its counterpart in Taipei during the past three decades.
Jason Hung (洪富峰), director of Kaohsiung City's Economic Affairs Bureau, the authorities overseeing the zoo, said problems have arisen from a lack of manpower and a funding shortage.
budget
The budget Shoushan Zoo receives every year is disproportionate to that received by Taipei City's Muzha Zoo annually.
Records from the Kaohsiung City Council in 2005 show that the Shoushan Zoo's budget that year was about NT$14 million (US$426,000) while the Muzha Zoo received NT$440 million from the Taipei City Council.
According to Hung, Shoushan Zoo is greatly understaffed, with only 33 zoo staffers, three of whom are veterinarians, who are responsible for taking care of 500 to 600 animals of 80 species.
Kurtis Pei (裴家騏), a professor at the Institute of Wildlife Conservation of National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, said the fundamental problem with the zoo is the rationale behind its management.
`show business'
Over the past three decades, the city government has run the zoo as like "show business," focusing on a variety of animals and presenting them to the public in a "window display" model, Pei said.
Using this rationale, the zoo has neither cultivated professional zoo staffers nor attended to the welfare of its animals, he said.
"Zoos such as the San Diego Zoo and the Bronx Zoo in New York have no longer see building an animal collection as one of their objectives," Pei said. "Zoos now emphasize biological variety, while conserving animal genes and promoting the public's awareness of preserving those beings."
"Therefore, people can see not only animals but also how they live, which may further stimulate thought concerning the meaning of the animals' lives," he said.
The Kaohsiung City Government was aware of the problems with Shoushan Zoo, particularly after the series of mishaps and blunders that happened to the zoo this year.
Hung said he had ordered a thorough examination of the number and species of zoo animals following the city government's request in late April.
The city government has also instructed its economic affairs bureau to come up with a plan to transform the zoo.
options
There are three options in the plan, according to Pei.
The first is to shut down the zoo.
The second is to turn the zoo into an amusement park.
And the third is to turn the zoo into an open-air petting zoo.
The president of the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan, Chu Tseng-hong (朱增宏), who has attended two meetings with the bureau since April, said his group's hope is to transform the zoo into a fenceless natural park inhabited by local animals only.
To reach that goal, Chu urged the zoo to stop breeding and importing new animals.
Pei, who also provides consultation to the bureau, said turning Shoushan Zoo into a fenceless zoo for cute animals is out of the question because he does not think the zoo is able to meet the high standard of staffers such a zoo requires.
"[The zoo] can't even get its visitors to behave when they are separated from the animals by enclosures," Pei said. "If it became a petting zoo, I can imagine tortoises being ridden by kids."
cost
Pei said improving animal living space is expected to cost NT$200 million to NT$300 million, but the economic affairs bureau has promised to fight for the funds.
"I don't care whether you want to close the zoo or turn it into something else, but in the next 20 years, you have to treat your animals well," he said. "In the next five to six years, the zoo needs to improve its animal care and living spaces. And within 10 years, it has to improve its manpower while helping the current staffers identify with the zoo."
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition