According to The Telegraph, the ban entails several different stipulations that zoos will need to comply with, and pertains to the 300 state-owned zoos that are part of the China Zoo Association. Firstly, the zoos will be forced to stop pulling the teeth of tiger cubs so that zoo visitors can hold them. Zoos will also have to put a halt to the selling of animal parts in their shops, and the zoo restaurants will have to refrain form serving dishes made using rare animals. On top of this, zoos will need to end the attractions in which live animals are sold to visitors and then thrown to the wild cats, allowing the visitors to watch the cats rip the defenseless animals to shreds. Finally, the zoos will also need to provide the animals with adequate housing, away from disturbance and irritation, reports
After a three-month investigation, China's State Forestry Bureau discovered that more than 50 zoos contained animals that had suffered severely from abuse.
While the ban is, of course, a positive thing, it also causes some problems to arise.
Apparently, the non-state zoos say that they were not notified of the ban. However, David Neale, the Animal Welfare Director at Animals Asia, insists that there will be avid policing to make sure the ban is enforced.
Courtesy of John Goodall
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The Huffington Post
by Zoe Triska Posted: 01/20/11
The Chinese government issued a ban on animal circuses and certain types of animal abuse at zoos that went into effect on Tuesday.