Beijing Zoo Beijing Zoo may be partially-relocated

[Chlidonias]

Parts of Beijing Zoo may relocate from city centre to improve animals? living conditions and ease traffic jams | South China Morning Post

10 March 2016

Parts of the 110-year-old Beijing Zoo may be relocated away from the city centre to improve living conditions for the animals and help ease traffic jams for visitors, mainland media reports.

“We are indeed working on the possibility of the partial relocation of the Beijing Zoo,” said Huang Yan, director of Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning and a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China Daily reported.

Its location in the city centre meant some animals had suffered from the noise caused by heavy traffic, despite facilities being soundproofed, Huang said on Monday on the sidelines of the annual “two sessions” or lianghui – plenary meetings of the nation’s top legislative and consultative bodies, the National People’s Congress and the CPPCC.

China’s first public zoo was built in 1906 and receives five million visitors each year.

The zoo also becomes very crowded with tourists during weekends and holidays, resulting in heavy traffic jams and restricted passenger access at the nearby subway station, the report said.

In 2004 a proposal to relocate the whole zoo was considered by a small group of experts, but it was rejected following objections.

Lian Yuming, dean of the International Institute for Urban Development in Beijing reintroduced the idea in January, but the latest proposal suggested that those animals that were fit to continue living under the current conditions should remain, Huang said.

“This would reduce the number of tourists, and also be beneficial to the animals,” Huang said. “The remaining animals would still fulfil the basic needs of the tourists, as well as give the local residents some memories to hold on to.”

 

[baboon]

According to the online-voting conducted by a newspaper, 84.9% oppose the relocation of Beijing Zoo, even partly. The reason of so many people opposing this relocation is: all the "experts" and bureaucracies supporting this relocation don't love animals, don't care the fate of the zoo after moving it to a far suburb, don't know the education role of a cheep zoo within downtown of a country's capital, what they only care about is the high price of the zoo's land and the huge profit "generated" during the relocation process of this zoo. Moreover, they want to move this zoo to the south part of Beijing area, where the air-pollution is more serious. We don't simply oppose the relocation of zoo, but it should be conducted by animal-loving staffs and zoo experts, but not the bureaucarcy, and the relocation should be truly for the good of animals, rather than the stupid reasons such as traffic jams. I don't know why they persist the relocation plan despite the overwhelming opposition from the public since 2004.