The Beijing Zoo has been in news recently for a strange reason. It was noted that the Beijing Zoo seemed to work at odds with their initial support towards the conservation of rare species of animals. In doing so, the Beijing Zoo paved a way for itself to generate income on their premises itself. By offering a rare menu consisting of exotic meat, the zoo has tried to position itself as having a world-class unique restaurant. However, given that zoos are supposed to be pro-animal conservation, serving up exotic meat in the menu seems to put the Beijing off tangent.
Zoos typically house exotic or endangered animals in a bid to protect them from becoming extinct. They are also housed to help educate visitors about these various exotic animals, help them understand the necessity to protect them and perhaps encourage them to be part of the conservation efforts. Therefore, it is appalling that Beijing Zoo has violated these ethics and is serving up animals that can typically found in their exhibits. Termed as Bin Feng Tang restaurant, it is currently offering diners exotic dishes like scorpion, ostrich eggs, kangaroo tail, deer penis and many more such species, all in attempts to lure hungry diners to try out these rare dishes.
To add to this, it was reported that the Beijing Zoo had placed signs along each of the animal’s enclosure to inform visitors about the various animal parts which are supposed to be very tasty. Information about the usefulness of these body parts in Chinese Traditional Medicine is also included according to these reports. What more can one say about this Zoo’s attempts to educate public about the animals’ usefulness where diet is concerned. Despite these reports, the zoo’s restaurant managers counter argue that the exotic meat they dish out actually comes from farm and not from the zoo exhibits or from the wild.
Whatever the case, the offering of such exotic dishes appears to be sending out mixed signals about the zoo’s genuineness in trying to be pro-conservation. To the restaurant’s defense, the Vice-President of the Beijing Wildlife Conservation Association claims that the Beijing Zoo does not appear to be doing anything wrong. According to him, dishing out farm exotic animals in restaurants is entirely legal and does not go against any efforts towards animal conservation. Nonetheless, the Capital Animal Welfare Association feels it is not ethical to offer exotic animals on the menu regardless of where they originate from. This is especially so for zoos which are supposed to be concerned about teaching people to care for animals.
Although Bin Feng Tang has been offering these exotic dishes for dishes now, the recent media coverage has attracted worldwide attention along with a considerable amount of criticism. This has forced the restaurant to revise its menu. It will probably take time before the world can see how much of the restaurant’s menu changes and the kind of business that is generated after the removal of the exotic dishes on the menu.
