By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
A zoo is not just a place to watch animals sit behind the bars, but is an area where people should feel the harmony of human and nature, Lee Won-hyo, Director of Seoul Grand Park said.
In his interview with The Korea Times, he expressed his passion and vision for the Park and its animals. ``A zoo shouldn't be a simple collection of animals. It shouldn't be a prison or a laboratory for cloning. It isn't something for amusement either,'' he said.
Instead, he stressed that the facility should be as similar to the place where the animals are from, lessening stress and respecting their lives. Making shades, digging holes or letting them play around on the green grass will be another great way to make them feel at home. ``We give medical care to them, look after them as our children, and try to make them feel like they are in their homeland. I know it is never enough, but I hope they can feel as close as possible to home,'' he said.
Also, for the animals' welfare, the park is working on elevating their ``wilderness.'' Titled ``Enrichment Program,'' foods and tools are used to help their basic instincts develope though they may never need to fight for food or survival anymore.
``You do not just give out meat but you put it in a box then spray perfume on it. You wait until the animal `attacks' the box and takes the meat out from it in a very `instinctive way.' It also helps them understand the fear of possibility of being attacked,'' he says.
For the apes, keepers give them rubber balls to play with. By putting food in them, the animals will try to smash the balls or ``think of ways'' to open them up to get the food, which will eventually induce them to think as they would in the wild, Lee added.
He said Korea needs to provide animals in zoos with more space, and a more comfortable environment for the animals to run in, roll in and enjoy nature by itself. ``I dream that one day we could release them all at the demilitarized zone so that they could just live like real wild animals. I hope they could really form some eco system of their own,'' he said.
Lee also shared his vision about international trade, where rare animals can be introduced for breeding purposes. ``We have already conducted some large-scale exchanges with Thailand but we are seeking for more relations with zoos in other countries,'' he said.
Korea will be hosting the international meeting of the Asian Zoo Association to mark the centennial of zoos in the country. ``I hope Korea can learn advanced know-how from these countries' zoo management and how they treat the animals,'' he said. Lee and his organization are pushing to make a DNA map of wild animals in Korea to manage details of every animal in the country so that foreign zoos can always have access to Korean fauna for exchanges.
``Zoos were started by some rich people trying to show off their wealth by collecting rare animals. But after several hundreds of years, I hope we all get to learn some lessons that animals and humans can achieve harmony through co-existence by visiting them.
``The 21st century will be about animals living in nature and people respecting them. Zoos should be the first step in understanding this principle,'' he said.