live feeding in China zoos

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EXCLUSIVE Tourists buy live animals.. to throw to tigers

By Adam Lee-Potter

 

 

Pics (Rex Features/Sinopix)

EYES rolling and squealing with fear, the cow is

forced from the back of a moving pick-up truck

into the dirt.

There is an explosion of dust, blood and flashing

cameras as an ambush of tigers moves in for the

kill, tearing great strips off the animal's back

as it struggles for a second, then goes still,

bar the odd twitch.

A minute later there is little left of the

ton-weight heifer except a scrap of skin, a mess

of bones and a puddle of blood.

 

 

Seconds from death... a truck ready to dump the doomed cow

But this is not some wild savannah. Welcome

instead to China's latest tourist craze - paying

up to £120 a time to feed live animals to

ravenous Siberian tigers. From four packed buses

goggle-eyed tourists shoot roll after roll of

film, and even clap. One Westerner waves a roll

of notes at the tour guide, excitedly gesturing

at the bizarre menu pinned to the wall.

 

 

A chicken is gobbled up by one of the ravenous tigers

To watch a live chicken thrown to the tigers

costs £2.50. You can also opt for an £8 duck, an

£8 pheasant or a £40 sheep. Strapped for cash?

You can choose raw steak for 80p. But the prize

is a cow or ox, which costs £120. The

Heilongjiang Siberian Tiger Park in Harbin,

Northern China, is becoming one of the country's

top destinations. The park is home to more than

700 of these huge animals - also known as Amur or

Manchurian tigers. There are just 400 left in the

wild. One tourist who got more than he bargained

for from the hourlong £4 tour was American Paul

Gray, 40. " I was expecting a safari, not a

bloodbath, " he said. " But people were baying for

more. One of the guides threw a chicken and it

landed on one of the support vehicles. A tiger

leapt on to the roof and gobbled it up in one go.

I was horrified. "

Last year, Wang Wei, of China's Wildlife

Conservation Department, promised to " put an end

to shows of feeding beasts of prey with live

animals " . But, today, it is still very much

business as usual.

adamleepotter

 

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