Zoo boss who loves his creature comforts
Innovative director gains widespread public support after putting wildlife conservation first
A zoo in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, that struggled to stay afloat during the COVID-19-induced lockdown last year has made a remarkable revival.
The man behind the U-turn is Shen Zhijun, 50, an animal welfare advocate and horticulturalist. In 2008, he became the youngest director in the history of Nanjing Hongshan Forest Zoo, which was established in the 1920s.
In August, Shen took to the internet to publicize his decadelong reforms — a series of campaigns that transformed the 65-hectare wildlife park located in hilly forests to Nanjing’s north, from a traditional zoo to one which prizes wildlife conservation.
Over 13 years, Shen has transformed the park’s landscape and abolished animal shows, which are the financial lifeblood of many zoos.
In his speech, “A Zoo’s Pursuit”, Shen talked about some of the humane and successful changes introduced at his zoo.
They include a bathing pool and giant shower for elephants, a leafy playground in the orangutan valley, a jungle environment for cassowaries — an endangered, fierce bird from northeastern Australia — to roam about and mate, and a secluded resting place for animals about to give birth.
“That (having a rest) was a basic animal right,” he said at the online event hosted by Yixi.tv.
During his speech, Shen’s team used 3D-printing technology to repair a monkey’s tooth and restore a red-crowned crane’s broken beak. “This helps improve their quality of life and bolsters their confidence when they are among other animals,” Shen said.
His 30-minute presentation, which propelled him to overnight stardom on the internet last summer, included quirky diversions about animal facts.
He recounted how zoo staff members studied the breeding habits of cassowaries using oval-shaped censors after the exotic birds began to lay eggs for the first time in a decade. He also told of how zoo staff members went to painstaking lengths to send an abandoned baby chimpanzee back to her troop.
Money matters
However, as Shen started to wind up his speech he abruptly changed topic and called attention to the zoo’s falling revenue. The park usually generates 80 percent of its income from ticket sales, however, visitor numbers had plummeted due to restrictions implemented last year to control the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Some people say there will be a ‘retaliatory’ surge in number of visitors to zoos after the novel coronavirus subsides, but I have not been retaliated against yet,” he said. “The future survival of the zoo makes me worried.”
His honest assessment of the zoo’s situation quickly resonated with netizens. The talk received more than 1.1 million views in the five days after it was released online.
Riding the wave of public interest, the zoo rolled out a program for netizens to “adopt” animals for a period of time. For example, 20 netizens can collectively adopt a leopard for a year, with each paying 100 yuan ($15.30), twice the price of an admission ticket. In return, the donors receive regular video updates about the animals they sponsor and can visit the zoo to have an up-close experience with them.
Through the innovative fundraising measures the zoo has managed to turn around its finances after the epidemic subsided on the Chinese mainland.
New way ahead
The comfortable environment the animals live in is a far cry from that for 2,800 animals 13 years ago when Shen took charge of the zoo. A horticulturalist by training, he had no experience running such a facility, which involves dealing with not only the animals, but hundreds of animal caretakers and hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.
Shen said he spent his first year doing nothing but observing how the zoo operated. Every morning, he did routine patrols of the animal shelters and one thing soon became apparent; the animals seemed unhappy.
The wolves seemed the most distressed, with the animals confined to a 10-square-meter cage, “helpless and hopeless”, Shen said in the viral talk. In 2009, he began making changes starting with the wolf shelter and later expanded to zones housing tropical birds, lemurs and koalas.
Zoo authorities have also stepped up efforts on conservation education. They have put up posters and signs to educate the public on dwindling natural habitats and endangered species.
“We want to explain to our visitors why they are endangered. Is it because of climate change, or industrialization or shrinking habitats?” Shen recently said.
He has attributed the success of his speech to the fact it has helped the public learn what the “true mission” of a zoo should be. Traditional zoos have existed for many years to entertain visitors through animal performance and other means.
“A modern zoo needs to educate the public more about the relationship between wildlife and their habitats and understand the importance of the environment for both human and wildlife survival. It should let people have respect for life and nature and encourage a sustainable way of life,” he said.
“Finally, a zoo should inspire empathy in people and help translate those feelings into actions.”
“A modern zoo needs to educate the public more about the relationship between wildlife and their habitats and understand the importance of the environment for both human and wildlife survival. It should let people have respect for life and nature and encourage a sustainable way of life.” Shen Zhijun, director of Nanjing Hongshan Forest Zoo in Jiangsu province