CHINA TOPIX

11/02/2024 11:30:14 am

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Tourists Sneak Into a Zoo by Wall Climbing

tiger

(Photo : GETTY IMAGES) This 30-year-old clouded leopard at Chengdu Zoo: I'll just wait for y'all.

Tourists in Eastern China are opting for a cheaper - albeit dangerous - way to enter a wildlife park. Instead of paying the entrance fee of 100 yuan to gain entrance to the Qinling Wildlife Park in Shaanxi province, visitors buy a 60-yuan ladder from locals to scale the wall. They saved 40 yuan, but at the cost of their lives. 

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The wall that visitors are climbing over is near the animal enclosures, which means that one wrong step can land them in the cages of wild animals. Earlier this year, a man who entered the Ningbo Youngor Zoo in Zhejiang province via wall climbing was mauled to death by a tiger. He didn't want to pay the 130 yuan entrance fee. Apparently, this is not enough warning for these tourists. 

Zoo officials admit that they are aware of these life-threatening tactics. "These people just loiter near the park. They have done this multiple times. We don't have an effective way to stop them," a security guard told a local newspaper. 

"I don't know why I chose to enter the park this way," a visitor told local media. He and his friends climbed over the wall last month. "Listening to the lion's roar nearby really frightened me. I really regretted climbing into the park. It was extremely dangerous," he admits. 

Chinese tourists have been climbing over walls to get into wildlife parks since 2006. They must really love the animals inside. 

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