Panda in Beijing Zoo

When Brian and I were first planning our trip we began making a list of all of the top things we wanted to see while in China. One that made the cut were the Chinese Giant Pandas. We quickly realized we definitely would not have enough time to make it to the city of Chengdu, in the Sichaun region of China, which is very far West. This is where the Giant Pandas originate and can be seen living in the wild in their natural habitat or a on a major Panda Conservation. So...we would have to settle with seeing them at the Beijing Zoo. We had read from a few different sites that the Zoo was not very good and that the Pandas were living lavishly compared to all of the other animals. We definitely did not prepare ourselves for what we would see.

We first made our way to the Panda section. Their habitat had been revamped by funds collected during the Beijing 2008 Olympics. You definitely couldn't tell what improvements had been made. It wasnt too bad. There were a couple different areas housing about 5 Pandas and an outdoor grassy area with a tree behind it. We still weren't all that impressed, but we did get a good close-up look at China's most famous animal. As we approached the back area we realized there was one hanging out in the shade at the top of the tree. We actually hung around long enough to watch him waddle his way down the trunk later...that was probably our highlight of the zoo experience.

From the Panda area, we headed to Cat Land to see the Lions/Tigers. We walked into this big warehouse and saw about 10 of these giant, beautiful animals all side by side in the smallest cages I have ever seen. They were about the size of a jail cell, each adorned with a stick in the corner for playing. Bryan named this "Tiger Alcatraz." That was literally what it looked like. It was heartbreaking. We did discover that there was an outdoor grass lot behind the building where we found the Lions and we are just hoping that each animal gets their turn outside in the grass and sun.

After this, it was one horrible exhibition after the other. Each one more upsetting than the first. My heart broke the most for the poor brown and black bears. They were placed literally underneath a highway overpass, each with small walled off sections. No grass, no water...just cement and popsicle sticks thrown down by the wonderful observers. After this, we found the biggest hippo I've ever seen in the smallest indoor room with a small pond to drink from. Elephants and Rhinos kept in small caged off sections of a dirt field, on and on and on.

I took some pictures of the pandas and a couple of other animals, but had to stop cause it was just too sad to want to look back at. There was however, a beautiful stream running through the middle of the zoo, with lots of beautiful weeping willow trees lining its banks. That was probably the best part about the whole zoo. It took everything we had in us not to head back there after closing time and let all the animals free!! We thought about it, but then figured it probably wasnt worth spending any amount of time in a communist, Chinese prison! We would definitely not recommend for anyone ever going to Beijing to set foot in this place! But, at least we can say we've seen Chinese pandas...

>>> Post by Anteed from United States of America

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