Chinese Zoo Visitors Hit Lions with Snowballs for Fun

[n2doc]

by Peter Barefoot on Tuesday, January 8, 2013





January 5 afternoon, at the Hangzhou Zoo lion exhibit, as soon as a group of visitors spotted the African Lions, they began to make snowballs. The lions felt something was amiss. The lioness swiftly hid under a wooden plank, and the male lion used a tree trunk as cover, with both eyes fixed on the visitors. “WHOOSH”, a young person threw a snowball at the African lions. The lions immediately dodged it, the snowball missing, but the visitor laughed loudly all the same. Some other visitors and children began to follow suit, throwing snowballs at the lions. One of them used large chunks of snow and threw them down with all of his strength. The lioness was freaked out, made a wide circle around, and hid together with the male lion tightly in a corner. In the end, just as those visitors left “in content”, the male lion gave out a fierce roar, his eyes fixed hard on their backs as they left. Walking around the zoo, people were seen attacking animals with snowballs at the alpaca Barn, monkey, giraffe, small animals, tiger, etc. exhibits. A netizen commented: “If the lions weren’t locked in a cage, would the visitors still dare to attack them?”


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http://www.chinasmack.com/2013/pictures/chinese-zoo-visitors-hit-lions-with-snowballs-for-fun.html

[malaise]

1. Nasty disgusting scumbag

Karma awaits

[hlthe2b]

2. It is those visitors who need to be behind bars...

This is disgusting.

[warrior1]

3. idots

[marmar]

4. And humans are the "superior" animals?

nt

[atreides1]

6. It's the myth we humans like to believe

Fortunately cruel stunts like this disprove that myth!

[el_bryanto]

12. Well we are superior in that we have snowballs and cages

not morally, of course.

Bryant

[backtoblue]

5. How horrible of these people!

Poor animals already living in cages and have to deal with assholes taunting and throwing things at them. Snowballs can hurt and the zookeepers should've stopped it immediately.

[Auggie]

7. Where's the zoo staff?

[Brigid]

8. Stupid, cruel people.

Is there no security at that zoo? That wouldn't go on at our zoo for more than a minute before being stopped. Either Security would spot it, or someone would go get them.

[polly7]

9. So disgusting and cruel. nt.

[ellie]

11. I emailed the zoo

and gave them a piece of my mind. Come on Anonymous! Out this asshole and ruin his life.

[backtoblue]

15. ty ellie!

[LiberalLoner]

57. +1

[WI_DEM]

13. dumbasses all over the world.

[Vinnie From Indy]

14. Assholes!

One would hope that zoo professionals worldwide would condemn this bullshit and refuse to work with this zoo in the future on anything.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

36. Best post in the thread.

[HappyMe]

16. What cruel assholes.

[hobbit709]

17. wouldn't bother me a bit if one of them got eaten by the lions.

[leftyohiolib]

18. i went t o the wedbsite to try to email them but the page is all in chinese and i cant tell which

button is the contact us button

[XemaSab]

19. As far as I can tell, China has a culture of animal cruelty

n/t

[get the red out]

31. AGREE

The picture of those monsters throwing the snowballs makes me ill.

[bullwinkle428]

20. Proof that stupidity and cruelty is not exclusive to America. The photos of the

poor creatures trying to dodge the projectiles is just heartbreaking.

[agentS]

21. Something similar happened in San Francisco's Zoo a few years back

3 stooges who were drunk and high decided to climb the tiger fence and throw things at the tiger. The tiger jumped, got a hold of one of the stooges' legs, climbed out and went to town on the motherfukers. Ate 1 guy and beat the shit out of the other two. The police had to shoot the other tiger later after a long chase.

Keep throwing snowballs, guys. And when the animal escapes (because of shoddy construction) and eats yo ass, we will NOT be crying for you.

[maxsolomon]

33. That incident immediately came to mind.

I had just taken my nephews to the SF zoo & spent a long while observing that tiger. I was heartbroken that it was killed.

Zoos are animal jails.

[pnwmom]

37. Those people were roundly condemned. What was the reaction in China to these pictures?

[AngryAmish]

22. Chinese folks have different notions about animal cruelty than here in the west

[exboyfil]

23. You are kidding right

We can be every bit as cruel as the Chinese. We had a bunch of ducks and other water fowl wiped out by two idiots (one in the Marine Corps) a few years ago at a petting zoo my daughters go to. They got a slight slap on the wrist for that.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/09/23/california-marine-admits-helped-kill-petting-zoo-ducks/

I was particularly offended since some of my best memories from high school was being part of the Marine Corps Junior ROTC. The primary instructor is a lifelong friend of mine, and I still respect him so much. Many of my friends went into the Marine Corps, and one graduated from the Naval Academy.

[AngryAmish]

26. Ever been to China?

Their cultural mores are just different re animal cruelty. Think about the US a hundred years ago.

[Ikonoklast]

40. My nephew taught in a small western Chinese city for two years.

You are correct from the stories he told us of his time there.

Animals are treated as chattel to be used and abused in any way seen fit.

But the stories of casual racism were even worse.

[geardaddy]

43. I lived in Beijing and Taiwan

and my ex-wife is Taiwanese and an animal lover. I remember going to a zoo in Taipei and in the nocturnal exhibit there were signs not to take flash photography because it could damage the animals' sensitive eyesight.

So, some asshole takes a flash picture and my ex-wife lays into him at high volume in Taiwanese (I speak Mandarin, so I couldn't understand most of what she was saying). His response was like, "What's your problem, it's just and animal." That only served to push her buttons even more and she nearly took his head off with a swing at his head.

[Ikonoklast]

46. For the life of me, I cannot remember the name of the city.

I do remember it was at the end of a rail line, the trains turned around and went back the way they came, and if he went out his front door and started walking West, it would be months before he saw another living human being.

[Enrique]

29. racist unless you prove it n/t

[maxsolomon]

34. That post makes a cultural assertion.

Not a racial assertion. The poster is not asserting that the Chinese are genetically predisposed to animal cruelty.

In much of the world, standards of what constitutes animal cruelty are much lower than in the US, where we've had decades of anti-cruelty campaigns.

Think bears with rings through their noses dancing in the streets of Tashkent or Kabul. A hundred years ago, that was common in America & Europe. 30 years ago, we had Gorillas living in department stores in Tacoma. Now, it's unthinkable.

[Enrique]

35. racism can be cultural

scientific racism is far from the only kind of racism. Plenty of hard core racists in the U.S. talk a lot about the flaws of black culture.

the most common form of racism by far is the kind of racism where you hear about something bad happening in another country and you attribute it to that country, when actually it is human nature.

[maxsolomon]

50. Sometimes I think I'm the last man in America who uses the terms "bigotry" and "predjudice".

"Racism" has absorbed all the previous distinctions of Intolerance.

And I agree, chucking snowballs at imprisoned lions is just human nature, and specifically, young male human nature. We are predisposed to being empathy-lacking self-centered assholes.

[Beaverhausen]

54. check this out

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/world/asia/13tiger.html?_r=0

[geardaddy]

42. So true.

In general, animals are treated as completely inferior creatures that feel no pain. It's a completely cultural thing.

[backscatter712]

24. I'd support allowing assholes to throw snowballs at the lions...

Provided they were made to stand inside their enclosure first...

[Solly Mack]

25. Cowards.

[graywarrior]

27. Fecking idiots

[arthritisR_US]

28. God damnit that makes me sick!

Stupid fecking a**holes!

[Liberal_in_LA]

30. ugh. someone stop them.

[AndyA]

32. That's horrible. Those Lions don't understand what's happening, probably think they're

being attacked.

The visitors throwing snowballs were cruel. They should be escorted out of the zoo, and not allowed to return.

[Fumesucker]

38. Reminds me of a poem/song I heard in my childhood

The Lion and Albert
by Stanley Holloway


There's a famous seaside place called Blackpool
That's noted for fresh air and fun
And Mr. and Mrs. Ramsbottom
Went there with young Albert, their son.

A grand little lad was young Albert,
All dressed in his best, quite a swell
With a stick with an horse's head handle;
The finest that Woolworth's could sell.

They didn't think much to the ocean;
The waves, they was piddlin' and small.
There was no wrecks and nobody drownded...
'Fact, nothing to laugh at at all!

So, seeking for further amusement,
They paid and went into the zoo,
Where they'd lions and tigers and camels
And old ale and sandwiches, too.

There were one great big lion called Wallace;
His nose was all covered with scars.
He lay in a som-no-lent pos-ture
With the side of his face on the bars.

Now Albert had heard about lions
How they was ferocious and wild;
To see Wallace lying so peaceful...
Well, it didn't seem right to the child.

So, straightway, the brave little feller,
Not showing a morsel of fear,
Took his stick with the horse's head handle
And shoved it in Wallace's ear.

You could see that the lion didn't like it,
For giving a kind of a roll,
He pulled Albert inside the cage with him
And swallered the little lad whole!

Then Pa, who had seen the occurrence,
And didn't know what to do next,
Said, "Mother, yon lion's et Albert!"
And Mother said, "Ee, I am vexed!"

Then Mr. and Mrs. Ramsbottom -
Quite rightly, when all's said and done -
Complained to the animal keeper
That the lion had eaten their son.

The keeper was quite nice about it.
He said, "Wot a nasty mishap!
Are you sure that it's your boy he's eaten?"
Pa said, "Am I sure? There's his cap!"

The manager had to be sent for;
He came and he said, "Wot's to-do?"
Pa said, "Yon lion's et Albert,
And him in his Sunday clothes, too!"

Then Mother said, "Right's right, young feller!
I think it's a shame and a sin
For a lion to go and eat Albert
And after we've paid to come in."

The manager wanted no trouble;
He took out his purse right away,
Sayin', "How much to settle the matter?"
Pa said, "Wot do you usually pay?"

But Mother had turned a bit awkward
When she thought where her Albert had gone.
She said, "No, someone's got to be summoned!"
So that was decided upon.

Then off they all went to police station
In front of a Magistrate chap;
They told him what happened to Albert
And proved it by showing his cap.

The Magistrate gave his o-pinion
That no one was really to blame,
And he said that he hoped the Ramsbottoms
Would have further sons to their name.

At that, Mother got proper blazing:
"And thank you, sir, kindly," said she.
"Wot, waste all our lives raisin' children
To feed ruddy lions? Not me!"

[spanone]

39. where's that 'people are stupid' poll????

[geardaddy]

41. I lived in Beijing and Taiwan

and the lack of general respect for animals is appalling.

[derby378]

44. Well, now I'm thoroughly disgusted...

...and more than a little depressed. If we're going to keep these animals in captivity, the very least we could do is show them some respect.

Ginny and I used to visit Fossil Rim Wildlife Park in north central Texas, where the animals were allowed to roam free (no lions, though, for obvious reasons) and they came up to our car where we could feed them and observe them up close. And you can bet we gave them the greatest respect - some of the species at Fossil Rim, like the addax, are highly endangered in the wild.

[Adsos Letter]

45. And, in an attempt to spread the "fun" around

Chinese zoo officials open the door to the lion enclosure.

If only...

[geardaddy]

47. The comments are very heartening, though.

Their fellow countrymen are not condoning the acts of these fuckwits.

[City Lights]

48. What jerks!

[RebelOne]

49. Sicko assholes. Those are the only words I can find for their actions. n/t

[Speck Tater]

51. Kid throws snowball. Film at 11:00. Must be a slow news day! nt

[MrSlayer]

52. Open the cages.

Then let's see what's what. Assholes.

[SummerSnow]

53. They'll get their revenge when one of them falls into their den

[appleannie1]

55. Why were they not thrown out of the zoo?

[In_The_Wind]

56. Where was security?

[img][/img]

[piratefish08]

58. the fact that the lions spend their existence in a metal prison to be stared at by people

is only slightly less cruel in itself........

[greytdemocrat]

59. Dumbass ChiComs...nt

[Trillo]

60. What are the lions telling us, besides their own sadness?

Perhaps that our own walls are made of money
And the super rich are throwing poverty balls at us....