Torturing and Eating Critters for Fun and Profit

For any of you going to the Olympics in China, be sure to pop over to the zoo for some really fun times. There you can dine on tiger meat and dangle live chickens over the lion’s pit. And if you are quick with your camera, you can catch a great shot of a live goat being tossed 35 feet onto packed dirt, where injured, it is torn limb from limb by lions.

This post is dedicated to Nancy Zhang, an LA paralegal who wrote to remind me that a 3000 year old culture like the one in China is obviously so much better than our own, since it is old and all. And Chinese.

From the DailyMail here:

The smiling children giggled as they patted the young goat on its head and tickled it behind the ears. Some of the more boisterous ones tried to clamber onto the animal’s back but were soon shaken off with a quick wiggle of its bottom.

It could have been a happy scene from a family zoo anywhere in the world but for what happened next.

A man hoisted up the goat and nonchalantly threw it over a wall into a pit full of hungry lions. The poor goat tried to run for its life, but it didn’t stand a chance. The lions quickly surrounded it and started tearing at its flesh.

“Oohs” and “aahs” filled the air as the children watched the goat being ripped limb from limb. Some started to clap silently with a look of wonder in their eyes.

Just an hour’s drive from the main Olympic attractions in Beijing, Badaling is in many ways a typical Chinese zoo.

Next to the main slaughter arena is a restaurant where families can dine on braised dog while watching cows and goats being disemboweled by lions.

The zoo also encourages visitors to “fish” for lions using live chickens as bait. For just £2, giggling visitors tie terrified chickens onto bamboo rods and dangle them in front of the lions, just as a cat owner might tease their pet with a toy.

You can also visit other zoo animals like the following:

A pair of endangered moon bears with rusting steel nose rings are chained up in cages so small that they cannot even turn around. One has clearly gone mad and spends most of its time shaking its head and bashing into the walls of its prison.

There are numerous other creatures, including tigers, which also appear to have been driven insane by captivity. Predictably, they are kept in cramped, filthy conditions.

Zoos like this make me want to boycott everything Chinese,” says Emma Milne, star of the BBC’s Vets In Practice.

“I’d like to rip out everything in my house that’s made in China. I have big problems with their culture.

“Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised by their behaviour towards animals, as the value of human life is so low in China.”

And wait, there’s more! Nancy Zhang loves what they do to tortoises in the Chinese zoos. What is it about the Chinese obsession with finding good luck?

And what would hurting tortoises have to do with it?

Simply put, Chinese families now gather in zoos to hurl coins at tortoises.

Legend has it that if you hit a tortoise on the head with a coin and make a wish, then your heart’s desire will come true. It’s the Chinese equivalent of a village wishing well.

To feed this craze, tortoises are kept in barbaric conditions inside small bare rooms. When giggling tourists begin hurling coins at them, they desperately try to protect themselves by withdrawing into their shells.

But Chinese zoo keepers have discovered a way round this: they wrap elastic bands around the animals’ necks to stop them retracting their heads.

You know, dangling chickens, throwing goats and pelting tortoises with coins sure can be thirsty work. If only there was some type of drink that was made by abusing animals that could slake your dual thirst for fluids and animal cruelty- wait! The Chinese have thought of everything! How about taking a tiger, grinding its bones down, and sprinkling it into wine? Would that be a delicious beverage for Red Commies? You Betcha!

Astonishingly, the zoo also sells tiger meat and wine produced from big cats kept in battery-style cages. Tiger meat is eaten widely in China and the wine, made from the crushed bones of the animals, is a popular drink.

Although it is illegal, the zoo is quite open about its activities. In fact, it boasts of having 140 dead tigers in freezers ready for the plate.

The wine is made from the 1,300 or so Siberian tigers reared on the premises. The restaurant is a favorite with Chinese Communist Party officials who often pop down from Beijing for the weekend.

I have been writing about the cruelty of the Chinese for a while now. See here, here, here and here.