Zoo under fire for TV program

Experts cite 'obvious' safety violations in handling animals

A popular reality TV show featuring interactions between celebrities and animals at a Guangzhou-based wildlife park is facing a boycott from animal rights activists.

The show, Wonderful Friends, has received criticism along with its rising popularity after it began airing on Hunan TV on January 24. Filmed at the Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, the show features six celebrities, including pop singer Li Yuchun, who is also an ambassador for the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Every episode has a mission that requires the celebrities to cooperate with animals, such as training elephants to do a headstand or taking chimpanzees clothes shopping.

"We cannot judge or treat animals as if they were human beings," a Net user surnamed Qiao who started the boycott told the Global Times Monday. Qiao said she started calling on netizens to boycott the show on February 24, initially out of fear that children would try to copy some of the interactions with dangerous wildlife.

The post on Sina Weibo quickly went viral. It also got reposted by the State Forestry Administration, which deleted the repost one day later to verify the facts, according to news portal thepaper.cn.

Online science channel guokr.com published a story on Saturday about inappropriate interactions between celebrities and chimpanzee cubs, including taking a cub to meet its father, which is rare in the wild.

Xu Lai, a chief editor at Guokr, told the Global Times that the show is giving the public an inaccurate idea of wild animals. "Early-stage research has proved that deliberate depiction of the 'cuteness' of wildlife may encourage illegal wildlife trade and decrease public support for protection in a devastating way."

"The show has obviously violated safety rules in zoos in many aspects. For example, they handed a chimpanzee a plastic knife in one episode, and they did not turn off the lights when animals are sleeping at night," a Sichuan-based chimpanzee keeper surnamed Yang told the Global Times Monday.

The park and the production team could not be reached as of press time.

In an earlier statement released in January, the zoo said that every celebrity in the show has gone through security and epidemic prevention trainings. Professional animal keepers are always present throughout the show, the park promised.

The park also added that the celebrities are mainly responsible for jobs such as cleaning and feeding, and do not have close contact with endangered species like pandas.

Despite animal welfare concerns, the show has remained popular with audiences. Deng Xuejian, a professor from the School of Life Sciences at Hunan Normal University, said that the show has merit for its efforts to use celebrities' influence to arouse public sympathy for wildlife protection.