Badling Wild Animal Park

Introduction to Beijing Badaling Wild Animal Park -

The Beijing Badaling Wild Animal Park was opened on Juli the 1st of 2001 at the foot of the Great Wall of China at Badaling. The new Park is not a zoo per se, nor a Safari Park, but more a wildlife entertainment park. Hence it is also known under the name Beijing Wild Animal World.

The Park is intended as a park with lavish gardens resembling the natural ecology in which the wild animals are to feel at home. However, apart from the 20 scenic cages where animals can be viewed and watched, the park also includes two sports area's and several other entertainment venues.

On opening the Park covered 240 Hectares of Land, but due to its great success it has grown to a larger size already.

The Park currently covers some 400 Hectares of Land. Animals on site include bears, lions and tigers, the african zebra and more.

According to source the Badaling Wild Animal Park is home to over 200 different species, many of whom rare, totalling a number of some 10.000 "wild" animals.

Modernizations of Beijing Zoo's and new Openings -

Beiing Badaling Wild Animal Park is only one of the many new animal related museums, zoological gardens and museums opened in the City of Beijing since the year 2000. There are now 7 exotic animal zoo's and entertainment parks in the City.

First and foremost - The World Famous Beijing Zoological Gardens, China's number 1 Zoo in the Haidian District of Beijing, has undergone a large modernization program and has expanded its grounds. North of Beijing Zoo, in the same Haidian District, the new Beijing Ocean World has opened its impressive and modern facilities. Another new Venue is the Lark Park, on which we have no information, yet.

Wildlife Controversy -

The exponential growth of the number of Wild Animal Parks or Zoo's featuring very rare and endangered chinese (and other) animals have raised environmental worries in China and beyond. The Friends of Nature(FON)(or Academy for Green Culture), a Chinese environmental non-government organization has argued that 7 Zoo's in one City should be more than enough.

Wild-life entertainment parks have sprung up throughout China with the growth of wealthy middle class citizens in search of distraction and leisure time. The appaling chinese record on the treatment of animals has raised fears that the boom in chinese wildlife parks marks is a symptom of great and renewed danger to the endangered species of China and Asia. Further objections razed, among others by FON, note the wrongful attititude towards animals displayed at the Parks, doing the harm to the government drive for grass-roots education on the matters of wildlife preservation and ecology.

At Badaling Wild Animal Park and other similar Zoo's in China animals are put on display for entertainment. The entertainment often involves the staging of animal fights, feeding of live animals for sensation and other forms of "entertainment" for a

Incidents at Badaling Wildife Park -

On November 11 of 2002, around closing time, a deadly incident took place at the Badaling Wildlife Park. Three local workers from a nearby construction site adjacent the Park, made the unfortunate decision to cut through a fence of the Wildlife Park in an attempt to shorten their route back home to their village after a tiring day of construction work.

The short-cut route lead the group directly to the Tiger Cage at Badaling Wildlife Park with a further - electrified - fence with warning signs reading: "Beast of Prey Inside - Keep Away". Recklessly ignoring the warnings the three then proceeded to climb over the electric fence, entering the cage.

While awaiting the arrival of his friends, the First one of the group to make it over the Inner Fence of the Tiger cage was pounced upon by a large Tiger. The Man was killed instantly, suffering a broken neck in the attack. The other two men, unable to give any help, could only watch in horror and scream.

Not much later guards alerted by the screaming found two men standing outside the tiger cage in full view of an angry Tiger and a bloodied and broken body. It took some effort before the Park's Guards were able to scare away the Tiger guarding its prize and recover the severely mauled body of the number 1 man.

No charges were made against the Park, which was found not liable in the attack.