In an ethically dubious bid to heighten the zoo experience, Beijing wildlife park organisers have created a restaurant serving their more exotic inhabitants to members of the public.
In plethoric sensory style, zoo patrons devour dishes such as webbed hippopotamus’ toes, Deer’s penis, and ant soup, while watching the animals’ siblings prance about in glass cages in front of them.
The zoo, which has recently drawn controversy from several environmental groups, also displays signs warning not to feed the animals, whilst simultaneously encouraging patrons to eat them.
Ge Rui, from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, has labelled the zoo’s behaviour as “irresponsible”, saying that selling exotic caged animals as food stimulates consumption, thus putting more pressure on endangered animals in the wild.
Chang Jiwen, legal expert at the Academy of Social Sciences, states that although the practice is legal, he is stupefied over what he calls a “pleasure seeking rampage of nature’s exotic love gardens”.
While the restaurant has declined to comment on the matter, it’s alleged, by several animal scoffing insiders, that it is currently revising its menu. Meanwhile, zoo explorers can sample additional menu delicacies such as kangaroo tail, crocodile, scorpion, peacock, ostrich egg, and shark fin soup, all ranging from $20 to $200.
Animal cooking video games are also on sale for $4.99.
I wondered why the fish and chips tasted so funny…