Tying peacocks to trees is not the right way to "for the safety of tourists"

Text/Wei Yang Shusheng

On October 1, a tourist in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, uploaded two videos on social platforms, saying that in the Bird Island Park scenic spot, four peacocks were tied to branches by staff. In this regard, the scenic staff responded to the reporter that there were too many tourists on the first day of the National Day holiday, and it was inevitable that some people would tease the peacocks or feed the peacocks. In order to avoid peacock attacks harming tourists, the legs and feet of the peacocks were tied with ropes for safety reasons, and the peacocks have now been untied and such viewing has been stopped. (The Paper, October 3)

Shenyang Bird Island Park Scenic Area tied peacocks to trees for people to see, its original intention is for the safety of tourists, but why do tourists not recognize this practice?

As we all know, the peacock is a relatively docile animal, generally will follow the principle of "people do not offend me, I do not offend", and will not take the initiative to attack tourists. However, even docile animals have tempers, and like animals such as tigers and lions, peacocks have a strong sense of territory and are hostile to people or animals that suddenly enter their territory. Especially in the spring, the peacock in the estrus period is emotionally unstable, if the tourist chases the peacock, or forcibly approaches the peacock, it will cause the peacock 'discomfort', in this case, the peacock is easy to attack people. On March 25, 2018, at the Jiufeng Forest Zoo in Shanghai, tourist Mr. Zhang specially bought food for the peacock, and when he interacted with the peacock in the parent-child park with his 8-year-old son, when the child squatted, a peacock suddenly came over and sneaked up on him from behind the child.

In addition, peacocks least like brightly colored and gorgeous "things" to approach themselves. Therefore, tourists go to see peacocks, it is best not to wear bright clothes, so as not to cause peacocks to be disgusted and attacked.

Shenyang Bird Island Park Scenic Area will tie 4 peacocks to trees for people to watch, the safety of tourists has been guaranteed, do not have to worry about being attacked by peacocks, scenic spots do not have to worry about tourists being pecked and cause compensation disputes. It seems that the safety of tourists and the peace of mind of scenic spots are indeed "killing two birds with one stone".

But, tying peacocks to trees, have scenic spots considered the feelings of tourists and peacocks? Visitors seeing a peacock tied up can cause extreme discomfort and reduce the travel experience. More importantly, tying the peacock to the tree severely restricts the "personal freedom" of the peacock, making it impossible to play and peck freely, and it is not in the mood to open the screen and show its most beautiful side in front of tourists. What is even more distressing is that the bound peacock feet are swollen and no one cares. It can be said unceremoniously that this is animal cruelty under the guise of "for the safety of tourists".

There are too many tourists on the first day of the National Day holiday, and it is inevitable that some people will tease the peacocks or feed the peacocks. Tourists are in close contact with peacocks and may be attacked by peacocks at any time, which does require park management to consider and improve the corresponding security measures, but this is not a reason to tie peacocks to trees. "For the safety of tourists", the correct way to open the scenic spot should be to increase the number of personnel, strengthen on-site management, persuade tourists to watch in a civilized manner, do not feed the peacocks, and maintain a safe distance from the peacocks, rather than tying the peacocks to the trees for people to watch.