China's animal gulags
One day I decided to take a boat ride through town to the Summer Palace. Along the way we made a stop to switch boats within the gates of the Beijing Zoo. I'm not generally one to pay admission to check out a zoo, but I figured, "as long as I'm here, might as well take a little stroll..."
What I saw was shocking. My tour-book summed it up aptly: "All zoos are animal prisons, but Beijing Zoo seems like death row." Take this poor critter for instance, obviously driven just a bit insane at having to live out his life in a small, concrete room. There was a gorgeous black panther and a tiger in adjoining "cells," equally afflicted. It was without a doubt the closest I've ever been to such beautiful animals, and it was that much more upsetting to stare into their vacuous eyes and see how utterly pained they were to be in such surroundings. Unfortunately, even the animals that were fortunate enough to get a little space outdoors didn't seem to be doing much better, as their pens were little more than overgrown weed patches. I certainly hope renovating, or at least closing, this horrific animal prison camp is on Beijing's to-do list for 2008.
