Human and Animal: Human and Animal: Animal People: News:

When the camel’sunim’ found the informant, he stepped forward. A dromedary over 2m tall approached the fence as if pretending to know it. Their meeting is also briefly. “Don’t go. Don’t take pictures.” Surprised by the loud voice of the zoo staff, the camel slid into the mud while striking back. Sighs flowed from all over. In front of the monkey exhibition room where frozen icicles still hang from the last cold weather. A Japanese monkey was constantly jumping in a breeding room with a heat lamp turned on, which was not there until the day before. Suddenly they rushed through the window and threatened people. “Ai and Nari, even though this is the case, when I enter, he is just playing around.” The whistleblower stroked the window outside the exhibition room for the monkey’s regret.

_______
Animals that lasted day by day while licking the floor

At 10 am on February 2nd, about 10 people gathered at an experience zoo in Dalseong-gun, Daegu. He was a zoo employee, an animal protection organization, a government official in charge, and a citizen who has been caring for animals here for the past 10 months. The zoo, which stands for a’nature-friendly experience-type ecological zoo’, was located in a theme park located at the foot of Mt. Juam, Daegu. The theme park, which has various rides, exhibitions, performance facilities, and even a zoo, was in a sluggish state due to the long closure of Corona.

The zoo, which opened in 2019, faced a corona crisis in February 2020 and has repeatedly closed and opened until now. It was around that time that the informant, Amugae Kim, first became aware of the neglected animals. Kim, a local resident, first discovered horses trapped in cages while walking through a theme park as an exercise in March last year. “I heard a thumping sound from somewhere. I went after the sound and found that the horse was pounding my head in an empty water bowl.” At first, it was overlooked that the zookeeper would take care of it, but the sound was repeated for 4-5 days. “Let’s make even thirsty animals eat water,” he brought a bucket of water to the promenade at dawn and began to water it. A 20-year-old cat mom, he visited the zoo twice a day because of animals. However, it was difficult to meet the zookeeper or manager for several months. He has only encountered a manager twice in the last 10 months.

“I don’t give water, but I’ll give it to you properly. Carrots, apples, sweet potatoes, etc. were taken out of the box, and the animals ate it in vain. At that time, in the field kennels he served, there were 3 horses, 5-6 sheep, 10 goats, and camels. Several animals such as goose, goat, monkey, and raccoon were still trapped in the glass exhibition room. The rice bowl or water bowl in the exhibition room filled with feces was always empty. “The door is locked here. The animals licked the water on the floor as they poured water through the narrow hole where they were feeding.”

_______
A monkey sitting on an icicle, a goat hanging from the neck

The situation worsened as electricity and water in the theme park were cut off from August to September last year. Kim had to climb the mountain three times a day with water in his car. At this time, the zoo staff who occasionally stopped by were assessed and allowed access to the feedlot and exhibition room. “The staff in their 20s is alone on the bus to look for animals. It’s watery and there’s no water, so how can I get it?” It took 8 hours a day to collect water and food from animals and clean the surrounding area. I asked my acquaintances and family members to carry water bottles and move food, but it was not easy to go to and from the mountain zoo every day. “I bought a worker for a day and worked, but it was so difficult that I quit after a few days.” It would have been impossible without sheep and horses gathering at the fence when he came, and monkeys digging into his arms even when cleaning.

In November of last year, Kim’s daughter, who was worse than that, tried to make a phone call by asking an official of a zoo company. At the time, a zoo official said, “At least once every two days, the staff goes to take care of the animals. It makes no sense to be starved. I just hadn’t seen them feed,” but there was no improvement in animal management since then. From this time on, Mr. Kim’s daughter Naver BlogThrough this, they started to publicize the reality of the zoo in earnest. Meanwhile, animals were neglected and abused in harsh environments. In a picture taken by the informant, Kim, in early September, a goat is being dragged by a man hanging from a rope. “One day when I went, two goats were tied up. One of them had already died, and only one was alive, but two days later, no one had been trained, so I called the theme park directly.” More than 10 goats disappeared somewhere after that.

In January, the monkey was left in an ice-filled exhibition room in a cold cold of over -17 degrees Celsius. The Japanese monkey, squatting in an exhibition room full of icicles, is an endangered species included in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Wild Animals and Plants (CITES). The exhibition room, where four Japanese monkeys live, had only a wire mesh to prevent escape, and was exposed to the sky without a separate roof. At the time of the on-site inspection on the 2nd, the roof of the exhibition hall was open. “The tent was blown away during the typhoon last year,” a company official explained.

_______
Everything is due to corona?

It was from last month that the rescue of neglected animals was planned. The animal group Beagle Rescue Network (hereinafter referred to as the Beagle Rescue Network) has been monitoring the management status by placing food, feed, and activists in the zoo for the past three weeks after receiving a report from Mr. Kim. “It was to confirm the company’s claim that it was properly managed. Contrary to their claims, I haven’t been able to meet at least one zookeeper or manager at all.”

The non-governmental cooperative, which began on-site rescue on the 2nd, requested the Daegu City Hall and the Daegu Regional Environment Office for quarantine measures for abused animals and confiscation of endangered species, but was not accepted. The official in charge of Daegu City Hall, who was present at the site on this day, repeated the explanation that the situation was caused by the’corona management crisis’. The person in charge of the Daegu Regional Environment Agency returned with only an answer saying that if the protection of threatened species is inappropriate, he will take necessary measures. The person in charge of the Daegu City Hall Environmental Policy Division said, “A Zoo is a company that is subcontracted and subcontracted to the original government. As the theme park was closed, there was a management crisis such as Danjeon and Dansu, so recently, animals were handed over to other zoos, and some animals remained.” “The zoo was inspected 9 times last year. The management is more thorough due to avian influenza, African swine fever, and corona infection,” he said, and released a report on the field survey conducted by the Ministry of Environment last July to Appy. According to the report, the field investigation on this day Amendment to the Zoo and Aquarium Act was preparedIt is for this purpose, and the survey results indicate that’there is a need for environmental improvement such as waterproofing in some exhibition halls’. It was an explanation that there were improvements, but there were no particular problems.

A zoo official strongly insisted that animals were not starved or neglected. The official said, “I don’t know how much the animal is fed per day,” and “I am grateful for the service the residents gave to animals. However, animals cannot survive only with the amount given. Honestly, animals are also property to us, but if it seems that they will be killed and neglected, will we consign or sell them?” He added, “The remaining animals are only there because they do not have a consignment or shelter.”

_______
“I hope the experience of begging for life will disappear”

Kim, who has been caring for animals for the past 10 months, said that the animal experience itself should be eliminated. “When you go to the exhibition hall, animals flock to eat a small carrot and a sweet potato,” Kim said. How hungry and bored would it be? Isn’t it that we trap lives and beg for fun? We must eliminate the animal experience at all.”

Representative Yoo Young-jae said, “From next year, the zoo will be changed to a permit system, and facilities for confiscation of endangered species will be established. However, animals in these experience zoos can always suffer due to management reasons and lack of management standards. The zoo should also establish a performance deposit system when permitting it to secure the protection and safety of animals.”
Daegu/Kim Ji-sook reporter [email protected], photo provided by the informant