Zoo deaths follow tycoon's takeover
By Li Xinran |
March 26, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A TEXTILE businessman obtained majority stakes of a previously state-owned zoo in Shenyang by offering bribes to the then-mayor, but his illegality turned the public facility into a slaughter house, Xinmin Weekly reported yesterday.
The magazine suggested the businessman be held responsible for the mass extinction of those wild lives.
The Shenyang Forest Wild Animal Zoo had more than 40 tigers, 20 lions and more than 400 other animals die in the past 10 years, though it was the death of 11 Siberia tigers that made recent headlines nationwide.
Only 518 animals of 49 species survived by February 8, compared with 1,024 animals of 61 species in 2000, the magazine said.
The zoo became a subsidiary of a privately own business in 1999 and moved from downtown Shenyang, capital of northeastern province of Liaoning, to its current site more than 30 kilometers away.
Though the boss, Yang Zhenhua, a textile tycoon, had never run a similar businesses before, he defeated the heavyweight competitor - a zoo based in the northern province of Hebei - by offering bribes to then Shenyang Mayor Mu Suixin, the magazine said.
According to the court that ruled on Mu's corruption, Yang offered Mu bribes of more than 800,000 yuan (US$117,183) between 1998 and 2000 and won Mu's support for his two projects in Shenyang: the zoo and a golf course.
Mu was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve in 2001 and died in prison the next year, but Yang's company had already won the projects and landed 30 million yuan of bank loans in 1999 because of Mu's backing.
Since the zoo's official debut in December 2000, Yang seldom cared about its management but used it as a bargaining chip for government-fund allocations and a financing channel to expand his business, including the construction of the golf course.
Animals were starved and keepers had their wages delayed, while the annual revenue based on admission tickets was mainly taken away by Yang to clear countless debts.
The businessman also made liquor based on tiger bones to serve government officials, a zoo worker disclosed.
The magazine suggested the businessman be held responsible for the mass extinction of those wild lives.
The Shenyang Forest Wild Animal Zoo had more than 40 tigers, 20 lions and more than 400 other animals die in the past 10 years, though it was the death of 11 Siberia tigers that made recent headlines nationwide.
Only 518 animals of 49 species survived by February 8, compared with 1,024 animals of 61 species in 2000, the magazine said.
The zoo became a subsidiary of a privately own business in 1999 and moved from downtown Shenyang, capital of northeastern province of Liaoning, to its current site more than 30 kilometers away.
Though the boss, Yang Zhenhua, a textile tycoon, had never run a similar businesses before, he defeated the heavyweight competitor - a zoo based in the northern province of Hebei - by offering bribes to then Shenyang Mayor Mu Suixin, the magazine said.
According to the court that ruled on Mu's corruption, Yang offered Mu bribes of more than 800,000 yuan (US$117,183) between 1998 and 2000 and won Mu's support for his two projects in Shenyang: the zoo and a golf course.
Mu was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve in 2001 and died in prison the next year, but Yang's company had already won the projects and landed 30 million yuan of bank loans in 1999 because of Mu's backing.
Since the zoo's official debut in December 2000, Yang seldom cared about its management but used it as a bargaining chip for government-fund allocations and a financing channel to expand his business, including the construction of the golf course.
Animals were starved and keepers had their wages delayed, while the annual revenue based on admission tickets was mainly taken away by Yang to clear countless debts.
The businessman also made liquor based on tiger bones to serve government officials, a zoo worker disclosed.
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