Zoo Director's Idea--Drinking Coffee in Animal Cage

Hsinchu City Zoo is a zoo located in the park. Reporter Lin Jiachen / Photography

There is a cage in a zoo in Europe where the animals are people. The species description board outside the cage reads: "this is the most ferocious animal in the world." In the future, the Hsinchu Municipal Zoo will have similar cages, allowing visitors to experience the feeling of animals being visited and arousing people's awareness of caring for animals.

Yang Jiamin, director of the Hsinchu City Zoo, said that he not only kept an old animal cage, but also set up a cafe in the cage, so that tourists outside the cage and diners in the cage could watch each other, live in different places, and experience the feeling of birds and animals being locked up before. The difference is that the explanation board outside the cage will read, "the most ferocious animal in the world is watching you."

Yang Jiamin said that the main purpose of the move is to make people wonder whether the zoo is a "human zoo" or an "animal zoo". Let people pay more attention to animal rights, the transformed zoo will adopt habitat design, as far as possible to use high and low barriers instead of fences, so that animals can swim freely.

The Hsinchu City Zoo has set several "Taiwan's first" records. It is the oldest zoo on the site (founded in 1936). It has the oldest wild birdcage in Taiwan. Taiwan's oldest 27-year-old white pelican and oldest zoo couple stalls live in Hsinchu. In addition, it is the smallest public zoo in Asia.

The wild birdcage, founded in 1936, is the oldest birdcage in Taiwan. Reporter Lin Jiachen / Photography

The oldest white pelican is 27 years old, and the oldest white pelican in Taiwan is at the Hsinchu City Zoo. Reporter Lin Jiachen / Photography

Yang Jiamin said that the number of visitors to the zoo has grown year after year, from more than 200,000 10 years ago to 400000 last year, but tickets have always been maintained at 20 yuan, with free admission under the age of 6 and over 65, with a budget only a tenth of that of the Taipei City Zoo.

Yang Jiamin said that Hsinchu Zoo is also the most park-like zoo in the world. It is located in the center of the city. The park is full of big trees and luxuriant branches. It was a part of Hsinchu Park at the beginning of its establishment. In 1936, the park opened another children's park with small animal barns and cages.