April 20, 2018

One kangaroo was killed and another injured at a zoo in southeast China
after visitors to their enclosure
<http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-20/kangaroo-dies-in-chinese-zoo-after-vi
sitors-throw-rocks/9682220> pelted the animals with rocks and other objects
in an apparent attempt to get the kangaroos to hop around. The abuse has
sparked fury online and prompted renewed scrutiny into the
<http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2100775/chinas-terrible-zoos
-and-why-theyre-still-thriving> mistreatment of animals at Chinese zoos,
several of which have gained notoriety in recent years for cramped and cruel
conditions.

Zookeepers at the Fuzhou Zoo in Fujian Province
<http://www.hxnews.com/news/fj/fz/201804/19/1500695.shtml> told the Haixia
Metropolis News this week that at least one visitor threw “multiple”
sharp-edged rocks at a 12-year-old female kangaroo in March to compel her to
jump, leaving her badly injured and in “deep pain.” She died a few days
later of profuse internal bleeding, her caretakers said.

A 5-year-old male kangaroo in the same enclosure was reportedly also injured
last month after a visitor threw part of a brick at him. The younger
kangaroo was not seriously hurt.

“Some adult [visitors] see the kangaroos sleeping and then pick up stones to
throw at them,” a Fuzhou Zoo attendant told the Haixia Metropolis News.
“Even after we cleared all the stones from the display area, they went
elsewhere to find them. It’s abhorrent.”

Pics of the bricks that visitors hurled at kangaroos at the zoo in Fujian,
killing one and injuring another. Zoo staff say visitors often throw objects
at animals despite it being ‘prohibited’.

– Bill Birtles (@billbirtles)
<https://twitter.com/billbirtles/status/987263932636151808> 5:37 AM – Apr
20, 2018

12-year-old kangaroo at zoo in eastern China died after being stoned by
visitors hoping to make it hop <https://t.co/HyrP46HQij>
http://ow.ly/sfAs30jArZe

– Sixth Tone (@SixthTone)
<https://twitter.com/SixthTone/status/987243239941050370> 4:15 AM – Apr 20,
2018

Netizens in China and elsewhere have
<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/20/world/asia/china-kangaroo-zoo-death.html
> expressed their horror at the behavior of the stone-hurling visitors.

The Metropolis News <http://szb.mnw.cn/2018/0420/1368203.shtml> said on
Friday that their social media pages were flooded with readers’ angry
comments, with many calling for visitors who mistreat animals to be
“blacklisted” from zoos.

The Fuzhou Zoo said it had
<http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201804/20/WS5ad93d28a3105cdcf6519721.html>
applied for funding to install high-definition surveillance cameras to
better identify perpetrators. They added that now only three kangaroos would
be on display to reduce the risks to the animals.

Several Chinese zoos have made headlines in recent years for mistreatment of
animals. Last year, visitors were horrified when a
<https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/06/wildlife-watch-china-donkey-tig
ers-zoo/> live donkey was fed to tigers at a so-called safari park near
Shanghai. In 2016, hundreds of thousands of people called for the
<https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/worlds-saddest-zoo-grandview-aquarium_
us_578c8b3be4b03fc3ee514af2> closure of Guangzhou’s Grandview Aquarium,
dubbed the “saddest zoo in the world,” after photos of the facility’s barren
enclosures went viral.

Such incidents have increased concerns in China about the country’s lack of
comprehensive
<http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2050730/chinas-growing-animal-rights–
movement-calling-change> animal welfare laws.

Without such legislation, “we can only try to persuade people using common
sense and referring to animal welfare laws in Western countries,” Tong
Yanfang, an animal welfare advocate,
<http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2100775/chinas-terrible-zoos
-and-why-theyre-still-thriving> told the South China Morning Post last year.

“For children and many adults who lack judgment, a wrong perception has been
built [in China] that animals are there for the entertainment of humans,”
Tong said. “When they see animals perform in a zoo, they won’t consider how
the animals acquired those skills.”

. This article originally appeared on
<https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kangaroo-china-dies-throw-rocks_us_5ad
a572ce4b00a1849cf477d?ncid=edlinkushpmg00000313> HuffPost.