The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day.
In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals.
The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.”
Photo: Screen grab from threads/jojo06260626
In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public and its own surveillance video footage so the man can be investigated and dealt with according to the law, the statement said.
The zoo said it would ask its lawyers to examine whether the man’s actions contravened laws relating to public order or animal protection.
Animal Division assistant researcher Peng Jen-lung (彭仁隆) yesterday said hyenas’ bite force can reach more than 400kg, 12-fold of that of human beings.
“Visitors can be severely hurt if they fall into the hyena enclosure,” he said.
The two spotted hyenas were delivered from France to Taiwan in 2011 to take part in director Ang Lee’s (李安) movie Life of Pi and were given to the zoo as a gift, Peng said.
Hyenas are carnivorous animals that feed on simple diets — mainly meat — so visitors are not allowed to drop extra food into their enclosure, he said.
The zoo usually feeds the hyenas beef or whole chickens, and sometimes provides large bones for them to train their bite force and grind their teeth, Peng said.
So far, the two hyenas remain healthy, he said, adding that they were let into the enclosure in the morning yesterday.
They had dinner as usual on Saturday, but the food dropped by the man was not found in the enclosure, Peng said.
As many large carnivores at the zoo are dangerous, including lions and leopards, enhanced measures were used to separate the animals, such as using high walls to enclose the hyenas, he said.
The zoo would not modify the display area of spotted hyenas, as the incident was due to a visitor’s misconduct, Peng said.
It is human behavior that should be controlled instead of animal behavior, he said, calling for visitors to watch animals at the zoo.
Clapping or shouting at animals is uncivilized, Peng added.
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