‘World’s loneliest zoo’: Chinese man saves abandoned animals and gives them a new home at his private park
- The zoo is located on Phoenix Mountain Forest Park in Enshi, central Hubei province, China
- It is dubbed as the ‘world’s loneliest zoo’ as very few people visit because most of the animals are not healthy
Over the past three decades, an 81-year-old Chinese man has been operating by himself a small zoo hosting animals, most of which were saved off the streets or on the way to be slaughtered.
The zoo on Phoenix Mountain Forest Park in Enshi, central Hubei province, is dubbed as the “world’s loneliest zoo” as very few people visit it due to the fact that most of the animals are not healthy, news site The Paper reported.
Luo Yingjiu began keeping animals at home in the 1980s. After seeing wild animals with missing limbs being kept in cages for sale at a food market, Luo bought them out of sympathy. He took them home to give them medical treatment. He released those able to live on their own into the wild while continuing to raise those that could not live independently.
There were so many animals in his house that the local government suggested he open a zoo, by providing him with some financial aid.
The park was opened in 1989, the only one in the city at that time.
During its peak time, the park had some big animals, including a tiger whose tail was cut and a lion with rare hair.
Business later declined since visitors said they were not interested in the zoo’s “old, weak, sick and disabled” animals.
