Feeding the Tiger at the Siberian Tiger Park 东北虎林园
Walking through the walkway in the Siberian Tiger Park is far more interesting that the bus ride in the reserve itself. Along the walkway, there was a lady who was peddling meat for the visitors, us, to feed to the tigers. I watched with grim fascination as a strip of meat was fed to a tiger. It was also with greater horror to see a live chicken be thrown into the reserve to be killed by the tigers. It was at this moment that the tiger suddenly came to life as they tried to get hold of the chicken. First order of business by the winner was to make sure that the prey was firmly in his possession.
Fresh Meat Anyone?
The tiger would growl at anyone perceived to be targetting his catch. The chicken in the meantime was still very much alive and only had precious moments to live. Once the competition has been chased off, the tiger started his meal. Chicken is not the only creature that can be thrown at them but also calves. Which as much bigger and thus cost far more money than a simple chicken (CNY 100). The calf will probably set you back several thousand bucks. I didn’t see anyone spring for a live calf but I don’t know whether I would be able to stomach the sight of that.
I start to wonder how humane is this really? Is this how far humans have progressed. I won’t pretend that I wasn’t grimly fascinated by the spectacle as I was also busy photographing the event unfolding. Only much later did I realize how horrible that was. Then again, the tigers need to know how to do this if ever they get released back into the wild. Out there, no one will be buying a chicken for them to eat. There might not even be food for several days especially in the winter. I don’t know if this is right or wrong either.
[xmlgm {http://www.worldwanderings.net/kml/SiberianTigerPark.kmz} zoom=19]