Beijing to regulate wildlife parks after series of animal attacks

The Beijing Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision has unveiled guidelines to improve safety at the city's safari parks, the Beijing Youth Daily paper reported Wednesday.

The announcement comes after a string of people were either attacked or killed by wild animals.

However, some web users have taken to social media to criticize the new guidelines.

A man was bitten by a bear on August 18 while trying to feed the animal at Beijing’s Badaling Safari Park.

The new regulations say that wildlife parks should install specialized, self-driving passways for tourists, introducing intensive safety measures such as separation nets and reinforced glass, in an attempt to ensure that passengers don't come into close contact with ferocious animals.

The provision also states that wildlife parks should enhance tourists’ safety consciousness by placing tour instructions and maps at ticket vending windows and introducing staff to specifically explain safety requirements during sightseeing.

Visitors will also be placed under close supervision of tour guides.

Sun bears attacked a car in February at Beijing’s Badaling Safari Park.

But while these attempts have been introduced to improve safety, some netizens have blasted the new guidelines.

“Can this kind of wildlife park be called a wildlife park?” asked on webs user, going on to query, “What is the difference between these wildlife parks and zoos?”

Some users even further questioned the rules' practicability, like @huoguolixianji who said, “I think if separation nets are installed, some people may act with more boldness, getting out of their car and provoking animals.”

In the past two years, repeated instances of people being attacked - or even killed - has not seemed to be sufficient deterrent for Chinese people to observe the rules.

On August 18, a man was bitten by a bear while trying to feed the animal at Beijing’s Badaling Safari Park. Last year, an elderly woman died after trying to save her daughter from a tiger attack at the same wildlife park.

While earlier this year, a man was mauled by a tiger at a wildlife park in Ningbo, in eastern Zhejiang Province.

(CGTN)