Chinese zoo stages tiger attacks for tourists

[urbpan]

Chinese Zoo Stages Tiger Attacks for Tourists.

The headline is a little misleading. The "tiger attacks" are staged by dumping a cow out the back of a truck into the tiger enclosure, which is an open area that the buses full of tourists drive around. There are several warnings about graphic content, but I didn't see anything gross. Upsetting probably, but not gross.

I haven't heard the audio, so I'm not sure if this is being sold as enrichment or if its unapologetically for entertainment value. Suffice it to say, this wouldn't happen in a North American zoo.

Comments

[bellisaurius.livejournal.com]

Just watched it. It's unapologetically for entertainment value. The cow is unceremoniously dumped out of the back of a truck (think dumptruck), and the tigers pounce before the cow gets much of a chance. You get to spend four bucks to see them eat a chicken, btw. And the bear pulling a car while in a sun dress would probably be a no-no here too.

Ethically, though, should it really matter that the tigers eat the cow this way vs the simple act of turning it into filets via mechanical methods? There's a good reason not to do it because of the potential damage to the tigers, but the rights of the cow seem less limiting because the tigers are eating it in one form or another. I can see that the cow's suffering is somewhat prolonged, but to be honest, the tigers looked to be pretty quick about the kill.

[kryptyd.livejournal.com]

I heard about this. I heard that they do it every day so obviously it is for the entertainment of the vistors and the tigers are overfed. That could be just a rumour though. My boyfriend told me after all.

[candent.livejournal.com]

So, as long as it's enriching their lives, you see no problem with it?

[candent.livejournal.com]

According to everyone, the cow is basically just dumped out of the back of a truck.

[candent.livejournal.com]

An average sized cow, appears alert as it is literally DUMPED from the back of a truck and tries to escape.

[candent.livejournal.com]

What if it was a dog or a cat?

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

it's generally not a good idea to feed predators to other predators.

[candent.livejournal.com]

In a place where human rights count for little, perhaps it's a bit crazy to expect anyone to care that much for animals.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

there is that. you'd want to keep your zoo animals in decent shape because they're the money makers though.

Also

[candent.livejournal.com]

I was sickened. But also realistic. This is obviously perfectly acceptable in China and people pay good money to see it. What is acceptable to you and me, may not (and often is not) to them. And vice versa. What pissed me off was the joy the parents took in pointing out the cow's last desperate moments to their chattering children. "Look honey, did you see how that brave tiger tore the flesh from that silly cow’s neck with his teeth?" Meanwhile the cow bleeds to death while other animals tear at its hind quarters. More cheering. A family day out, Beijing style.

[bellisaurius.livejournal.com]

Does the dumping off of a truck actually influence the ethics of the situation? I'll admit the aesthetics are horrible, but an animal sent for slaughter is hardly in good shape where location and placement is concerned.

The real question is "are we ethically or morally obligate to quickly kill a higher order animal before feeding it to another animal?" I don't think natural rights theory holds here, and we're basing the decision more on our squeamishness about the nautre of the tigers kill (essentially the same as a kosherite slaughter).

[candent.livejournal.com]

I think we are ethically obligated to recognize that animals deserve the right to live, to not be eaten, skinned, etc.

[bellisaurius.livejournal.com]

The absolute position on animal rights in this case can't be correct, if for any reason, because tigers eat meat. The methods they use can't be compared to those people use because they don't have the ability, so therefore, they can't have the repsonsibility to ensure the animal goes down quickly.

The real question is whether we have a moral responsibility to the cow, to put it down before feeding it to the tigers. While the animals are being tossed into it for entertainment value, they're not being treated in a way that resembles dogfighting, as in this case, the cow was born for the sake of being food, and the tigers aren't in grave peril.

Like I said, I feel squeamish, but it's not activating a moral feeling, which has me wondering why.

[matthewdh.livejournal.com]

so you want the tigers to kill and eat tofu cows?

[candent.livejournal.com]

Did I say that?

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Can you see youtube videos where you are? Here's some footage someone shot of it (a little more disturbing): http://youtube.com/watch?v=dmbXocACzpo

[harrietbrown.livejournal.com]

As if we needed more proof that humans are stupid and cruel ...

[candent.livejournal.com]

Tiger Meat Sold at Chinese Zoo (http://itn.co.uk/news/cef527cc4cd6b114ef09facf5e42040b.html)

[dragonwrites.livejournal.com]

Well, is it very different from watching someone dump a rabbit into a python cage? Or a rat (rats being, in my opinion, MUCH smarter than cows)?

[matthewdh.livejournal.com]

I feel the same way. Why is this an issue? Is it because people are watching for entertainment?

[anais2.livejournal.com]

Having worked in Asia, I was at first shocked by the difference in our European sensibilities and the seeming callousness of the Oriental approach to life; I came to understand that their position and attitude is reality-based, while we as Americans prefer a sanitized fairy-tale to actual life.
We can play horribly bloody and violent games, but are squicked by a predator killing prey; not senseless mayhem, but food gathering. We readily eat the same animals, when they have been slaughtered and dissected well away from our sheltered existence.

I then have to confront my hypocrisy, and am now left to ponder...are they ruthless and calloused, or are we coddled, clueless hypocrits who live in a self-serving fairyland?

Your thoughts? I haven't yet been able to shake my conditioning, and reach a conclusion.

[bellisaurius.livejournal.com]

I saw the same attitude with a chinese girl I went out with once. We were talking about what kind of animal we think of ourselves as, and I had said "dog", which provoked this sort of repulsed curiosity. After a few moments, I realized that she had actually eaten dog before (apparently, they raise special breeds for the purpose), and well, it's hard to respect an animal that ends up on the table.

I don't think either position is much better than the other as they tend to lead to behaviors that seem both mutually useful, and mutually inhibiting (in military terms, a good comparison would be our emphasis on search and rescue, which preserves experienced soldiers and pilots, vs a a viewpoint that allows for human wave attacks. Each probably can seem odd to the other group, but both seem to have some balance).

[anais2.livejournal.com]

Yes, I guess it IS cultural. Quite an adjustment moving between the east and west. It has been frightening at times, actually. They seem to lack reverence for life, in some respects. ALL life.

I don't think we will enjoy being occupied by the Chinese, frankly. It will be a real buzzkill for most of us.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I think what is disturbing to me is the open callousness toward the plight of the cow; and yet I admire that their culture has accepted the role of food animals, in a way that ours seems to be in permanent denial and self-conflict.

We are, collectively, hypocrites. I see it every day at work when people who ate meat for lunch are horrified to see me feeding mice to the foxes, or when they learn what happens to the pigs.

I wonder if there is some middle position, where you are aware of the lives and deaths of the animals you eat, without seeing them as raw materials whose feelings don't matter.

[bellisaurius.livejournal.com]

Didn't it used to be traditional to take school children to the slaughterhouse as a field trip? (It was for my school anyway) Granted, it's hard to take,and kind of traumatizing, but in the end, it gives one a healthy respect for many things about life in general.

[anais2.livejournal.com]

I think there is a middle ground; maybe we have lost sight of it as we depart from the traditional connection to food sources. As a kid, I had trouble with seeing piggies I had bottle-fed from birth being turned out with the hogs intended for butchering; I think I gradually came to a "circle-of-life" mentality because that example was in front of me constantly. (with only a few sojourns into vegetarianism, LOL)
It isn't a lack of respect for food animals so much as a different mindset than one maintains for companion animals.

I think I would happily eat a human before I would eat a dog; dogs are so much more sensitive, fair, and intelligent than most humans.

[bellelvsbeast.livejournal.com]

There is a zoo in the middle east where they let goats in the lion exhibit and they will wander around, then they let the lions loose in the enclosure...it's crazy.
But kind of sad since the goats are not used to being prey so of course they don't know what to do :(