Zoo under live camera： Is ＂cloud adoption＂ an urgent solution？
BEIJING, Beijing, November 16 (Wei Xianghui) Recently, Nanjing Hongshan Forest Zoo caused a heated discussion due to live fundraising on the online platform and the opening of "cloud adoption". Some people think that the zoo’s move is related to the difficulty in revenue under the epidemic.
In fact, in recent years, many zoos have tried to "touch the net" to transform. Experts say that investing most of the income from adoption and live broadcast into zoo management and construction is beneficial to animal protection, but the regulatory issues behind this are also worthy of attention.
Many zoos’ income dropped sharply due to the epidemic.
According to the latest information of the "Let It Go Wild" project initiated by Hongshan Forest Zoo on the Tik Tok platform, Hongshan Forest Zoo has completed the fund-raising target of 2.64 million yuan for live broadcast, and the number of donations has reached 180,019.
Hongshan Forest Zoo is a self-supporting public welfare unit. As mentioned in the introduction of "Let It Go Wild" project, "As a self-supporting public welfare unit, Hongshan has to face the unbalanced reality between income bottleneck and the improvement of animal welfare protection under the restriction of personnel flow for more than two years."
In addition to live broadcast fundraising, Hongshan Forest Zoo also launched a small program "Cloud Adoption" activity last year. The public paid a certain fee, signed an adoption agreement with the zoo, and then watched their adopted animals through live broadcast and other forms. Many netizens believe that this is also related to the operational difficulties of Hongshan Forest Zoo.
The epidemic did "hit hard" the zoo. According to the news released by official website of China Zoo Association in July this year, the 2022 meeting of the association’s management committee revealed that the zoo conditions reported by the association’s cooperation areas showed that during the epidemic period, the zoo closed its parks from time to time. In the first half of 2022, one third of the zoos took measures to close their parks, some of which lasted for 120 days, and "the annual income of many zoos decreased by 50%-70%".
Screenshot of live broadcast of Hongshan Forest Zoo.
Can "touching the net" help out?
Hongshan Forest Zoo, as a zoo that came into contact with the network platform earlier in China, has many business ideas that are often concerned by the outside world. According to reports, in 2018, Hongshan Forest Zoo began to test the live broadcast of water on various platforms. In addition, Hongshan Forest Zoo also created Zoo Mall and put on shelves peripheral products.
According to media reports, in the past two years, Nantong Forest Wildlife Park, Xining Wildlife Park, Qingdao Forest Wildlife Park and many other zoos are trying to "touch the net" and promote adoption and other activities on social media.
Qingdao Forest Wildlife Park launched animal adoption activities in 2020. Li Huanbin, Minister of Planning Department, told the media that the average adoption fee for small animals is 1 yuan per day, and the annual adoption fee for large animals is 1000 yuan. However, during the closure of the park in 2020, the zoo lost more than 10 million yuan. In contrast, the adoption fund is far from covering the operating costs of the zoo.
Yang Zhaoxia, director of the Ecological Law Research Center of Beijing Forestry University, told Zhongxin.com that this issue should be taken seriously by the society and relevant departments. Li Huanbin once admitted to the media that the return to normal operation behind the zoo is inseparable from the support of the higher authorities, the Forestry Bureau, the Cultural Tourism Bureau and the local government. However, he also said that adoption is more important to play a role in popular science education.
In fact, as early as 2010, the Opinions on Further Strengthening Zoo Management issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development clearly mentioned that it is necessary to actively guide all sectors of society to support the development of zoos through donations and adoption. In addition, the opinion also pointed out that governments at all levels should not regard the zoo as a "financial burden", but should give full protection in terms of funds, institutions and policies.
Expert: The use of fundraising amount should be made public.
Chen Juanli, director of northwest university of politics and law Animal Protection Law Research Center, told Zhongxin. com that offline or online adoption does not mean giving the ownership of animals to tourists, but an act with a contractual nature. We can analyze whether the adoption content is legal from the perspective of contract law. Under this premise, the zoo should comply with the Wildlife Protection Law when setting up adoption projects. For animal live broadcast, it should also be carried out in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations of the network platform.
"If most of the income from adoption and live broadcast is invested in zoo management and construction, it will be beneficial to animal protection." According to Chen Juanli, animals in zoos belong to recreational animals from the legal point of view. At present, academic circles have been discussing this part of the animal welfare law and animal protection law. She said that after the introduction of relevant legislation, the regulations on zoo management will be further improved.
Yang Zhaoxia said that the relevant departments should verify whether the zoo really encounters operational difficulties and whether financial subsidies are in place. He mentioned that from a legal point of view, the amount and use of fees obtained from animal adoption and live broadcast should be made public.
For zoos that offer webcasts, Yang Zhaoxia believes that the wildlife protection management department can supervise these zoos in a unified way, such as issuing relevant licenses and increasing filing. "A long-term and stable mechanism should be formed." He said. (End)