h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Unfortunately, many Chinese zoos should be avoided, such as the zoo in Chengdu, Sichuan. The animals there are kept within extremely cramped spaces, and the entire zoo is extraordinarily dirty. All of the animals look sad and lonely, and I found the zoo quite depressing actually. Of course, there are still some good zoos in China.

The one in Guangzhou (Canton) would be lovely - if they didn't have any animals in it. It's a lovely parkland, but the only animals that appeared to be having any fun at all were the wildfowl on the lake and a small wild snake we saw wriggling along a path - an escapee from the snake restaurant perhaps?. The rest were in small concrete enclosures with concrete floors - including a cheetah.

Ordinarily we wouldn't have considered visiting a zoo, but we were on an escorted day tour out of Hong Kong, so it wasn't a choice. They were keen to show us their prize Pandas, who, very sensibly, were hiding in the shade of their enclosure trying to escape the sultry heat so we didn't see much of them.

There was a troupe of monkeys in a relatively open enclosure who looked like they were having a good time with some odd looking constructions of wheels and pipes which was serving as a climbing frame. We felt a little less uncomfortable about it all whilst we were watching their antics.

But the bears. That was really heartbreaking. Their enclosures were pretty big, but were nothing but bare concrete, with ponds of horribly stagnant water covered in scum and floating litter. One of them, poor creature, was slumped in a heap by the wire and I'm still sure to this day that there was a burning cigarette stuck in its fur which it was too miserable to brush off.

When we were filling in our 'evaluation' forms at the end of the trip, the question "Which place would you have preferred not to visit?" had the answer "The Zoo" in virtually every case.

Check what the guidebooks say on Chinese zoos carefully if you go out there to try to find out which ones to visit and which ones to avoid (if you want to visit one at all, that is). If foreign visitors only go to the good ones, then the bad ones might take the hint and clean up their act a bit.

If you're on an escorted trip, tell your National and Local guide how you feel about it if you are taken to a bad zoo - preferably whilst you're there so they can see what you dislike about it. They're always interested in your opinions, and if enough of you comment (and make it clear that very few western visitors would be happy with the zoo), the tour may even drop it from the itinerary next season. Like guides and reps in any country, they want visitors to leave with happy memories of their visit, so anything that conflicts with that purpose is not going to be something they'll want to take visitors to again.

Okay, maybe I'm being a bit naive, but we can try, can't we?



PS. Despite the zoo, I found China to be a marvellous country, with friendly, hospitable people who love to laugh. Just thought I'd make that point!

lol, Thanks for the compliment.
China is a great place for tourists to come. After all, it has a 5000-year history to show off. Tourists can visit pagodas, ancient monuments, palaces, temples, etc., etc.

I have never been to China, but I wanted to add a so-called wildlife park in India to the list of best avoided zoos. If you ever get the chance to visit Banargatta National Park near Bangalore, don't do it. The animals are in a very poor condition and the so-called tiger and lion safari is a frustrating and depressing joke. The trip there was one of the very few occasions I didn't enjoy at all during my stay here.

I too haven't been to China (yet) but I have been all round India and as 'Feffi' mentioned the conditions "IN ALL THE ZOOS" is atrocious! Avoid them all as you will only be encouraging them to continue to badly mistreat animals. I was frankly sickened. Indeed the conditions are very poor throughout Asia, with one noteable exception being the crocodile zoo just outside Bangkok, Thailand. That was a great experience!

Please, please, do not visit any of the zoos in India, and check for info from other travellers before visiting one anywhere else in Asia. Help the animals have some dignity and a "real" life. Thank you.