Beijing, Thursday March 18, 2010.

Today we went to the Beijing Zoo. The grounds were lovely, with willows lining a river and frozen ponds. But the animal enclosures - and the animals are the main drawcard of a zoo - were foul. Bears were alone in bare bear pits, nothing for stimulation except the zoo patrons throwing mandarin peels at them and making them beg for apple juice - despite many signs saying no feeding. One man even spat on a bear - who spits on a bear? We're not sure if it is due to the freezing temperatures, but there were tigers and pumas in heated cages, about 5m x 5m, with concrete floors and a bench - that's it. There were much bigger outdoor enclosures, but perhaps it was too cold. Elephants walked around their tiny enclosures covered in shit and hay and with radiators lining the walls. It was pretty depressing to see, but the locals seemed to have no qualms about it. There were signs advertising how the zoo was making enclosures to mimic the natural habitat. Pretty sure there's no concrete, steel and glass in the jungle. Also pretty sure platypusses aren't called Duckmoles, and that a kangaroo's natural diet doesn't consist of corn, carrots and cabbage. The pandas were the biggest attraction, but really, they don't do much beside eat bamboo, sleep and look cute. They couldn't even be bothered to have sex for us. There was a couple of 'lesser pandas' and 'red pandas', but really.
All in all, a disappointing zoo, possibly even some animal-protection-convention-breaking going on there as well.