First zoo visitors punished for feeding animals

The Beijing Zoo has issued four tickets to tourists who fed animals against zoo regulations during the national holiday, the first of their kind, the Mirror Evening News reports.

Each of the four visitors were fined 50 yuan ($7.5) for breaching the regulations.

A zookeeper in the Beijing Zoo was quoted as saying that zebras have already had symptoms of diarrhea since October 6. Feeding on dry food, zebras will easily suffer intestinal diseases when being offered food full of moisture, such as carrots and vegetables, given by visitors.

A vet at the Zoo said most animals would not stop eating when they were full. "They will keep eating as long as visitors feed them, and many thus get ill after holidays," he said.

A total of 450,000 people visited the Beijing Zoo during the week-long National Day holiday, and some of them liked to feed animals despite warnings.

The zoo said that visitors caught feeding would be dissuaded and reported on the spot. Only a person who is caught twice will be issued a ticket.

Zhou Xuliang, a lawyer at Beijing Guanling law office, supported this kind of fine. "Without punishment, feeding animals cannot be restrained," Zhou said.