While enjoying lunch earlier, I saw on television news the current Kaohsiung Mayor, popularly known as “Mama Chen,” Chen Chu, posting a response on Facebook to a video of a Taiwan black bear standing at Shou Shan Zoo:
【Kaohsiung’s bears are real bears, not part-time workers】 #Don’t believe baseless claims #Please definitely visit Shou Shan Zoo to witness it yourselves #Kaohsiung doesn’t permit unsafe part-time work even if it wins an Oscar #Agree? Please share—Posted by Mayor Chen Chu (Mama Chen) on February 29, 2016
Though the news treated Mama Chen’s response as humorous, my first impression was a big ˊ_>ˋ expression, because what struck me wasn’t how remarkable the Taiwan black bear standing looked or how witty Mama Chen’s response was.
What struck me was that Mama Chen apparently didn’t know Kaohsiung’s Shou Shan Zoo is an environment unsuitable for safe part-time employment.
I’ve compiled a list of the zoo’s better-known historical news incidents for your reference:
- Taiwan animal protection advocates criticizing it as a prison for wild animals
- Shou Shan Zoo animals kept in cement enclosures
- Shou Shan Zoo reported Taiwan black bear death
- Shou Shan Zoo planning to import white tigers amid controversy
- Shou Shan Zoo elephant Ali injures person; zoo to hold press conference
- Child’s finger severed by chain on Shou Shan Zoo tour train
- Brown bear reported with depression, severe fur loss
- Mistaking fierce river crocodile for Nile crocodile
- Pregnant elephant Ali mistaken for male, married to mother elephant Annie
- Antelopes and lions kept in adjacent enclosures
- Kangaroo killed by dog bite
- Baby raccoon mysteriously disappeared
I believe these news incidents are just the tip of the Shou Shan Zoo’s dark history. A zoo that can only provide cement prison cells as basic living space shouldn’t exist.
Notice how even in the photos Mama Chen posted, you can see Taiwan black bears surrounded by ugly cement prison cells, yet many (including Mama Chen) merely treat the standing bear video as amusing American-style family entertainment, never wondering why a black bear would stand in such an unusual posture at unexpected times. We still have a very, very, very long road ahead on animal protection.