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Zoo fires keeper after photos of gift Mauritius turtle ridden by tourists for money sparks online backlash
Online Edition
MANAGEMENT of a zoo in southern China’s Xia’men city has sacked one of its animal keepers after photos showing her making a giant title, a gift from Mauritius, be ridden by tourists to make money went viral on the Internet, drawing a strong backlash.
The photos were confirmed to be taken during the just-past Labor Day holiday at Haicang Zoo. The female keeper is seen in the photos standing beside the turtle holding a screwdriver in her hand while tourists ride the giant turtle.
The female keeper later reportedly admitted to local media that they charge 30 yuan per person for a photo taken with own cameras while 50 yuan with cameras provided by the zoo. She could get a 50 percent commission from the business income each time.
She reportedly also clarified she did not use the screwdriver to force the turtle to work as alleged by some Netizens online but she only happened to hold it then because she needed to fix some cage with it.
“When the ride lasts too long, I would come up to stop the tourists. I have been taking care of the turtles since they first came here. We are bonded and I would never harm them,” she reportedly said.
The zoo management told the media that they had completed an investigation and it showed no violence against the turtle had taken place regarding the photos but they had fired the keeper for breaching zoo rules to run the business.
The turtle raiser “failed to resist the temptation of business income from photo taking”, the zoo reportedly said. The zoo alleged it did not allow its animals to be used for any photo taking business.
The turtle pictured is one of the Aldabra giant tortoise couple sent to the zoo as gifts by Mauritius in 2012, local media reported. The male is aged 69 and weighs about 150 kilograms while the female, aged 54, weighs about 140 kilograms, local media reported.
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