LOCAL zoos and parks had turned a blind eye to a three-month national ban on animal performances, which expired last week, according to a report in the Daily Sunshine.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development issued a regulation Oct. 26 to step up management of zoos and implement a three-month ban on animal performances.
In the past three months, however, animal performances remained popular at Shenzhen Safari Park and Xiaomeisha Sea World, the paper said.
The Shenzhen Safari Park staged animal performances each day, involving birds, tigers, lions and dolphins.
Both the parks said they had not received an official notice from local government departments banning animal performances.
The two parks also claimed they did not torture animals when training them nor force them to perform beyond their capabilities.
From a perspective of animal protection, it is against an animal s nature to perform, said Yang Qingtian, who works for the Animals Asia Foundation.
Yang said most people were not aware that many ostensibly ordinary animal performances were a torment for animals.
However, Li Yan, a tourist from Henan Province, said it would be boring to just watch animals in cages at zoos.
Children can learn the nature and characteristics of animals by their performances, Li said.
The ban also forbade zoos from selling animal parts and zoo restaurants were required to stop serving dishes with ingredients of rare animals.
A spokesman for the State Forestry Bureau said earlier that a three-month investigation last year had discovered more than 50 zoos where animals were suffering severely because of abuse.
(Li Hao)
