In recent years, many "indoor zoos" and "mini zoos" have appeared in large comprehensive shopping malls in the city, and they often play the sign of intimate contact with small animals, with cute and playful publicity, attracting many tourists to explore. For tourists, while spending leisure in the mall, they can take their children to get up close and personal with small animals, which seems to be a good choice. However, some parents and experts believe that whether it is appropriate for the zoo to "walk" into the mall and whether the supervision can keep up smoothly is still a debatable topic.
Indoor zoos are favored
Zero distance from animals is the biggest selling point
"Changing the open-air environment of the previous zoo, where you can not only see a variety of animals up close, but also feed, hug, pet and interact with the animals at zero distance, and truly experience the characteristics of different animals." This is an introduction to an indoor zoo. Nandu reporter found that such indoor zoos are mostly opened in large shopping malls, and there are usually marmots, lizards, alpacas and other small animals in the park. Its customers are mainly parent-child families, tickets are priced at more than 100 yuan, and many consumers pay money to play inside.
Nandu reporter learned that there are also several "indoor zoos" in Guangzhou, and recently the reporter randomly visited some of them. In a shopping mall in Panyu, Guangzhou, an indoor zoo has made the façade and entrance into a cave style, full of natural wild fun, and there is a large screen looping the scene of the intimate interaction between tourists and animals in the park at the ticket office.
Seeing that the reporter was very interested in the big screen, the ticket office staff took the initiative to come forward to sell. According to its introduction, the indoor zoo has a total area of about 300 square meters, with more than 20 kinds of small animals such as capybaras, sika deer, small raccoons, foxes, marmots, etc., and the ticket price is more than 100 yuan, which can allow an adult to bring a child to enter. It's summer weekdays, how is the venue traffic? The staff said that more than 20 tourists had been received that morning, and within half an hour of the reporter's observation outside the venue in the afternoon, there were also seven or eight pairs of families who bought tickets to visit.
There is also a "Notice to Visit the Park" at the entrance, saying that the small animals in the museum have been vaccinated against rabies, and also informing visitors that they may be scratched and bitten. Before entering the venue, the staff will give each family a pair of gloves, and another "Instructions for spectators" emphasizes that tourists are forbidden to feed animals with their bare hands, but in the promotional videos played on the big screen at the door, there are many pictures of people touching raccoons and other animals with their bare hands.
On the homepage of the zoo's review website, the photos shared by tourists also clearly show the scene of their "zero-distance interaction" with small animals - many tourists directly pick up the raccoons and foxes raised in the park with their bare hands for a group photo, and let the raccoon's paws rest on the bare skin.
On one review site, tourists shared photos of themselves clutching a fox.
An indoor small zoo in a shopping mall in Yuexiu District is more compact, about 200 square meters, there is a breeder and 12 kinds of animals such as baby pigs, angora rabbits, alpacas, ferrets, etc., with a single ticket of 48 yuan, a child ticket of 30 yuan, and the tour time is limited to 90 minutes. The park uses floor-to-ceiling glass to separate from the outside world, which is convenient for attracting tourists to visit, and the interior decoration is like a café, with a bar for receiving animal food and a sofa for tourists to rest, small animals such as rabbits and hamsters are kept in cages for visiting, and an alpaca walks alone on the tiled floor. When the reporter visited, there were about 20 pairs of families at the scene, and the children were holding carrots, greens and other small animals in the garden, and the parents were waiting through the glass.
Alpacas in an indoor zoo in Guangzhou.
The visitor experience has been mixed
Health and safety are the most worrying issues
Due to the relatively closed environment of the indoor zoo, the odor generated by the animals is one of the focuses of many tourists. At the entrance of this zoo in Yuexiu District, some parents left after a short stay outside the park, only because they "felt smelly when they walked to the door." In the homepage of the above-mentioned review website of an indoor zoo in Panyu District, "the environment is stuffy" and "smelly" are the main reasons why many users give bad reviews. The clerk of the shop next door also told reporters: "Often some animal smells come over, very smelly." ”
On the review website, tourists who have spent money have also mixed opinions about the indoor zoo, some people think that "the small animals are very cute" and "it is a good place to walk the baby in the summer", and some people say that "it is smelly and small" and "the environment is very stuffy", and question the indoor environment can not provide a comfortable living environment for the small animals, and then worry that it will cause health problems that affect people.
In addition to hygiene concerns, children may also be bitten or scratched when interacting with small animals. In the review page of an indoor zoo in Guangzhou, a parent left a message saying that the child was bitten by a hamster in the park, and the park added in the response that "small animals are not aggressive, and the correct pet will not be injured", and has taken the child to the hospital for vaccination.
Nandu reporters searched online and found that in recent years, indoor zoo animals have occasionally injured people. In February 2021, the media reported in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, that a 5-year-old girl was bitten by a horse while playing in an indoor zoo; In December 2019, when a reporter visited the Beijing Indoor Zoo, he learned that some customers had been bitten by a totoro. Some netizens were injured by small animals such as raccoons and rabbits, and posted on social forums to ask about treatment measures.
At the entrance of an indoor zoo, children are attracted to pet cats.
Expert advice:
Keep your distance from the animals when touring
The department needs to increase supervision
What qualifications do I need to open an indoor zoo? Nandu reporter as a citizen telephone consultation with the Guangzhou Municipal Animal Health Supervision Department, the staff said that when the merchant purchases and transports small animals, it must apply for an animal epidemic prevention permit, "The kitten and the puppy are a dog (cat) a certificate, and other animals also have corresponding quarantine requirements." The staff also said that if the animals raised in the indoor zoo reach a certain scale, they also need to refer to the management requirements of animal farms and apply for the "Animal Epidemic Prevention Conditions Qualification Certificate", and if the merchant fails to apply for the above documents as required, it will be punished with administrative penalties. In addition, if indoor zoos want to raise uncommon animals such as raccoons and marmots, they also need to consult the forestry department whether they comply with the regulations.
Li Shengzhong, a visiting professor of veterinary medicine at Guangdong Vocational College of Science and Trade, believes that according to the national animal epidemic prevention regulations, indoor zoos must apply for animal epidemic prevention licenses before transporting and raising various types of animals, and publicize them to the public, and the animal health supervision department also has the responsibility to actively supervise and ensure the health and safety of the animals raised in the park. Li Shengzhong also said that indoor zoos are different from large zoos with open spaces, and a large number of animals and tourists are in contact with tourists in humid and confined spaces, which is easy to increase the probability of zoonotic transmission. Therefore, he advises tourists to keep their distance from small animals when visiting and clean their bodies in time.
"Raccoons, lemurs and other animals are irritable and irritable by nature, and the period of domestication of humans as domestic animals or raising animals is not long, unlike pet cats and dogs, which are docile and relatively able to get along with humans. So it is recommended to maintain a sufficient safe distance from wild animals such as raccoons and foxes. Li Shengzhong reminded the public, "If the park does not do a good job of vaccination of small animals, tourists will be at risk of rabies infection after being bitten and scratched by mammals such as raccoons, and they must seek medical treatment as soon as possible and receive rabies vaccine." ”
Nandu reporter noted that Mi Xiaoting, a partner at Gaopeng (Shanghai) Law Firm, made suggestions and suggestions to Shanghai's Huangpu District in 2019 to regulate the new format of "indoor zoo". Mi Xiaoting told Nandu reporters that during his field visits, he saw that some indoor zoos had problems such as poor ventilation and lack of inspection and quarantine certificates, so he suggested that the relevant departments pay attention to them in a timely manner and make good use of the "health customs" and "quarantine customs" of such business sites.
Mi Xiaoting believes that the current domestic supervision of indoor zoos is still in a blank space, it is easy to provide living space for illegal trafficking in wild animals, the spread of zoonotic diseases and other phenomena, "in some indoor zoo commercial registration, the business scope is 'pet service', but the animal breeds they raise and the exhibition content are beyond the concept of conventional pets, and they are also very different from ordinary pet shops." Mi Xiaoting suggested that the relevant departments should strengthen the review of the source of animals in indoor zoos, and at the same time pay more attention to the inspection and quarantine work of indoor zoos for a long time with higher requirements.
Nandu, N video reporter Wei Zhixin intern Li Yunqi