Beijing Zoo Made Me Sad

Before beginning this post I would like to preface it by saying I know that zoos can be an emotional subject.   However I am of the belief that zoos can be an excellent way to educate people on animals and play a key role in conservation.



On that note let's talk about Beijing Zoo.

For the reasons I've just mentioned I don't mind visiting zoos, as long as the animals are kept in good conditions I think they can be beneficial. 

So when I was in Beijing in 2013 we thought we would go to Beijing Zoo to see some real life pandas! 



The panda section of the zoo was definitely the best part of it, the pandas looked well looked after and had big enclosures.  So I would say if you are going to Beijing and want to see the pandas I would say just buy the ticket for the pandas, because the rest of the zoo is quite sad. 

Overall the other animals just looked kinda sad and unhappy.  It was really sad to see it because I've never really seen that before, in Britain the animals tend to look happy enough.  



The enclosures looked so small and really empty with no stimulation for the animals.  Even worse is that the animals visibly looked upset or bored- I don't know if this will make sense to non-horse people, but do you know that energy you feel when a horse gets agitated and starts weaving their head in the stable?  A lot of the animals, especially those in their enclosures alone looked tense and agitated.  It was quite upsetting to walk around.  



We couldn't make it the whole way around, after seeing the first corner we doubled back to see the pandas and just called it a day at that.  



I would never normally post about such a negative thing but I thought it's worth saying if people are travelling to Beijing this summer. 

Have you been to Beijing Zoo?  What did you think?



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