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Born in the 1950s - Yu Huachang, 58
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Yu Huachang, 58, has 11 scars on his body left by animals he had tended.
“This one is from a tiger,” he says, pointing to the right arm.
Yu is a chief technician at Shanghai Zoo, in charge of feeding and training animals there. He has worked there 42 years.
“My dream now is to train a younger generation of zookeepers, and hopefully some of them will become the backbone of our zoo,” says Yu.
Like many people born in the 1950s, Yu’s early years were shaped by the three years of the Great Famine and the 10-year “cultural revolution” (1966-1976).
“Life was anything but easy at that time,” says Yu, with a bitter smile as he recalls his past. “As a little boy, I was always hungry.”
The “cultural revolution” started when Yu was in the fourth grade.
“We attended classes, but teachers only left minimal homework for us, and we spent our time tacking up big-character political posters, read quotations from Chairman Mao and walked around the city to meet other young activists,” he recalls.
At age 17, Yu was assigned to work at the zoo, while his three brothers was sent to work on farms.
Yu was lucky to be allowed to stay in Shanghai during that phase of the “cultural revolution.” He earned 17.8 yuan (US$2.74) a month then.
The zoo was a refuge, of sorts, from the political agitation on the streets. The primary job of zookeepers was to scrounge up enough food to feed the animals.
“We tried our best to secure the basics for our animals despite the turmoil of the times,” he says.
His first job was keeper of monkeys. Six months into the job, he was ordered to go to Xi’an, capital city of the northwestern province of Shaanxi, to escort a pair of snub-nosed monkeys back to the Shanghai Zoo.
On the train ride back, which took more than 24 hours, the monkeys fell ill after fellow passengers insisted upon feeding them unclean food over Yu’s protests. He didn’t know what to do. He worried the monkeys might die from diarrhea.
He recalls someone once telling him that tree leaves would alleviate diarrhea, so he fed some to the monkey. Luckily for him, they recovered. The incident impressed upon him the serious responsibilities of a zookeeper.
“It was very difficult experience,” he says.
Being a zookeeper can be dangerous. He has been scratched by a tiger and a leopard, and bitten by a chimpanzee.
“After some time, I learned when they were bad tempered and could avoid these injuries,” Yu says.
Scars aside, Yu says his 42 years of working with animals have left him with glowing memories.
“I was always thrilled when animals gave birth,” he says. “The animals I raise become like my children. I feed them, care for them the best I can and even sleep by their sides when they are sick.”
Yu recalls once having a smart but naughty 10-year-old gorilla named Haiben in his care for two years. When Haiben had a fever, Yu ate and slept with him at night, and covered him with blankets.
“When I was later transferred to other duties,” he says, “Haiben always recognized me when I walked past and got very excited and waved at me.”
Yu says he expects to retire in two years.
The income of zookeepers is not very high and the work is hard, so many young people nowadays don’t want to work in zoos, he says.
Yu is trying to encourage a new generation to take up the responsibility.
“People of my generation didn’t receive good educations, and the young people of today have had such excellent opportunities,” he says. “I am hoping some of them will take up animal care and preservation.”
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