Some zoos go to
great extents to recreate enclosures to make it look like the natural habitat
as much as possible for each species; many others don’t take the animal’s
natural needs into account at all.
A recently released
video from Beijing Zoo in China of a skinny tiger in a cramped enclosure
walking endlessly in a circle has raised questions over the cat’s health. The
deep track engraved into the ground by its endless walking appears to indicate
this behavior has been going on for a while and is likely a psychological
response to its living conditions, very different from habitat it should be wandering
in.
As soon as the video
went viral, concerned social media users in China responded in shock with remarks
such as “There is not enough room for the tiger,’’ “It’s ill, mentally ill,”
and “The tiger looks depressed.”
In its response to
the video going viral, the Beijing Zoo said that the video wasn’t filmed
recently. The tiger was actually removed from the enclosure at the end of March
after zookeepers observed its strange behavior.
One of the zookeeper told the press: ‘’this kind of behavior is expected after animals have remained in a zoo for a long time.’’
According to the Beijing Zoo, the tiger had been given “psychological counseling” to help the animal regain its health.
‘’We have taken the animal to obtain behavior training. We also brought more food and toys for the tiger,’’ they claimed.
Read more Here..