I have a wildlife zoo

After escaping from the macaw, the little red pandas were a bit lost!

Looking around, they didn't know where to go.

Fang Ye watched them meandering on the ground for a while and then walked ahead to lead the way, laughing, "Come on, Lingling, Shuaishuai!"

The two little red pandas scampered after him!

They arrived in front of the raccoon enclosure and stopped a few meters away from the glass curtain wall, staring blankly inside.

The raccoons seemed to have noticed the little red pandas outside!

One raccoon standing on a slide perch and preparing to slide down propped itself up with its hands; another by the water pool, who was scrubbing building blocks and plastic chips, stopped its scrubbing motions; and the raccoon under the well popped its head out of a crack in the well cover, peering out with a sneaky look.

Huh, what kind of animal is that outside?

Perhaps because the raccoons were plump and roughly the same size, they didn't seem so scary to the aesthetic senses of the little red pandas, and both of them pressed against the glass curtain wall.

Shuaishuai rested his front paws on the small cement step below, propping up his body to look inside, his pure white triangular ears twitching, his mouth also slightly open, sensing the information here.

The raccoon by the poolside, being the closest, cautiously walked up to the glass curtain wall, face to face with Shuaishuai, observing each other.

Curious, yet somewhat scared!

"Haha, the staff has come to visit the staff," someone joked.

"These raccoons and red pandas look so different, how can anyone get them mixed up."

"I saw a video of a little red panda last time, and there were tons of comments calling it a raccoon eating dry noodles, I was so speechless!"

"Actually, I didn't know much before I started following the zoo director; I had only heard of pandas but not red pandas, a bit ignorant."

"Comparing the two, the red panda is a bit cuter! One has delicate features, and the other has a sneaky look."

"Raccoons are quite cute too! Red pandas have a dumb cuteness, while raccoons have a sly charm."

After gazing for a while, the raccoon at the well cover pushed it open and climbed out, running to the glass curtain wall for a curious look, prompting the little red pandas to hastily scurry back to Fang Ye's feet, looking back for a moment.

"Got scared, did you? Your old man's right here, nothing to fear."

Fang Ye chuckled and rubbed their heads, "If you don't want to play anymore, then let's head back!"

As usual, he carried one around his neck and held the other in his arms.

Deciding not to take the little red pandas to see any other animals, having already encountered three new types today was quite exciting enough; they could savor the experience slowly.

Some visitors called out unwillingly from a distance, "Director, are you going back already? Let them play a little longer please?"

"Right, right, I haven't taken enough photos yet!"

Fang Ye chuckled, "Well, today's outing was just to let the little red pandas experience something new. It's their first time out and about, and they're a bit nervous, so we're heading back now.

Don't be too sad if you didn't get enough of them. Later on, when conditions are ripe, we might consider starting a red panda walking project! You might have the opportunity to take a walk with the red pandas."

Upon hearing this, the visitors couldn't help but exclaim joyfully, "That's awesome!"

"Looking forward to it, the zoo director's zoo is getting more and more impressive!"

...

The next day, dressed formally, Fang Ye went to the city to attend a small meeting.

It was mainly a formal report to the leadership about the work of the zoo, and to mention some needs!

The topics included the land use for staff dormitories, and a few other miscellaneous items.

For instance, concerning uncivilized tourists, the method employed by the zoo now can only be verbal criticism and education by the animal keepers while also putting them on an internal blacklist of uncivilized visitors. The next time they come, depending on the situation, they might receive some education before entering the zoo, or they could be banned from visiting for a certain period.
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This form of a blacklist can only be said to have a certain deterrent effect, but the deterrence is not strong enough!

What if a poorly behaved tourist throws a stone at an animal and doesn't hit it or doesn't cause any actual injury? What kind of punishment can be meted out then?

None at all!

Yet, the animal has indeed been frightened, and it might not be on display for a while as it needs to rest and recover from the mental trauma, which makes the keeper's training tasks more difficult to advance.

What about that loss?

Or the animal gets injured, even bleeds; it's really painful. Or suppose a tourist feeds a plastic bag to the animal, and it eats it! And it ends up dying because of it.

What then? Go get an injury report for the animal, take someone to court?

There's only the crime of illegal hunting and killing of precious and endangered wildlife!

Because if the death is caused by throwing stones or feeding inside the zoo, subjective intent can't be established, and no responsibility can be attributed.

At most, it might barely qualify as picking quarrels and provoking trouble, resulting in a few days in detention.

Fang Ye then complained, "Just a few days after our reptiles and amphibians exhibit opened, tourists saw a saltwater crocodile motionless on the shore and thought it was a specimen or a toy model, preparing to throw stones at the saltwater crocodile to see if it would move!"

They were stopped by a very responsible fellow tourist nearby, and the animal keeper arrived shortly thereafter to educate the tourists.

Feeding, tapping on glass, and even wanting to throw stones at animals – this kind of situation has happened many times since our zoo opened! However, most of the time, it is stopped by the animal keepers.

And some tourists are persistent in wanting to feed the animals, bowing their heads and pretending to admit their mistakes when being reproached by the keeper, only to continue as soon as the keeper walks away. It's a constant battle of wits with these kinds of visitors, and it really gives us headaches."

"That's why I suggest, can't the city make some policies that allow us to fine these uncivilized tourists?"

Fang Ye then added with righteous indignation, "It would be best if the fines were higher, several thousand, or even 10,000."

Without authorization from the relevant departments, the zoo cannot impose fines on its own.

Reliance solely on warning signs and keepers' admonitions is still somewhat limited.

It's like the warning on certain risky websites: Please confirm you are over 18 years old? Yes/No.

It's basically just for show.

"Heh heh heh!"

The leaders all laughed good-naturedly; a fine of several thousand or 10,000 is a bit unrealistic in the domestic context.

Mayor Bai asked, "Is there a precedent for this at other zoos in the country?"

Fang Ye sighed and said, "Some zoos in other places have imposed fines, but the amounts are not significant – between 50 and 100 yuan. I think if we're going to fine, we should do it substantially. Otherwise, it may be even less of a deterrent and ineffective as a warning. It should be several hundred, at least, or a thousand."

In Singapore, the fines for such things are probably the strictest!

Someone saw a wild boar and thought it was pretty cute, couldn't help but feed it a piece of bread, and even took a video to post on social media.

As a result, they were fined 2,500 Singaporean dollars, equivalent to 12,000 yuan.

If they had known earlier that feeding wildlife would incur a fine …

Fang Ye went on to say, "When the pandas arrive, what if a tourist wants to attract the panda's attention with stones? What then?

Also, our zoo wants to follow the example of Panda Base in the future, letting the red pandas roam freely outdoors, take walks with visitors, which also demands certain standards of visitor behavior. They can't just feed them at will, litter, or touch and scare the red pandas.

If we could enforce stricter fines, it would also facilitate the launch of such projects."