S'pore tourist disturbed by 'the most overweight and lethargic' endangered tigers in China
One tourist from Singapore was left shocked by the sight of the "most overweight and lethargic" tigers she had ever seen in her life, while travelling in the Chinese city of Harbin.
TikTok user @whereischristie, who goes by the name Christie, is a self-described "adventure travel junkie" who recently visited Harbin, the capital of China's Heilongjiang province.
During her trip, she went to Siberian Tiger Park, a local attraction with an average rating of 4.1 stars on Google. According to tour company Ice Festival Harbin, the park is considered "the one and only place in the world to admire the purebred and scarce Siberian tiger".
Christie called it "one of the most uncomfortable travel experiences" ever in a TikTok video posted on Feb 25. The video has accumulated more than 1.2 million views and 135,700 likes.
A great attraction on paper
In the clip, Christie admits that the park sounded promising on paper. For US$20, visitors are taken through the park on a bus that is reinforced with grilles – ostensibly for protection.
In reality, she says, the bus drivers honked at the Siberian tigers to get their attention, driving their vehicles close to the animals. For an extra fee, visitors can feed the tigers raw meat through holes in the bus windows, or even toss a live chicken into the enclosure.
"So many people on my bus bought meat, but not a single person managed to feed a tiger," said the TikToker, who felt this hinted at how overfed the tigers were.
She added that the tigers also appeared to be desensitised to humans, and felt that the park was built for entertainment more than conservation. Christie urged tourists to conduct research on wildlife attractions before visiting, and to patronise only ethical wildlife attractions.
In response to a comment, the TikToker clarified that she went to the park with a tour group and had initially thought it was a "proper tiger conservation with controlled feeding at a limited area".
She confessed that she could have done more research, and has shared her experience so other tourists can make informed decisions on visiting the park. She called the park the only attraction she would not recommend in Harbin.
'Heartbreaking'
Many users left comments thanking the TikToker for shedding light on the "heartbreaking" and "sad" reality of the Siberian Tiger Park.
Some also commented that the conditions were not "natural", pointing out that tigers are solitary creatures and would not typically gather in huge groups in a small area. One commenter even said she broke down after visiting the park.
A minority disagreed with Christie. On Instagram, where she also posted the reel, user @aamirates claimed that he had visited the park in Jan and disagreed with Christie's "blanket boycott" of the park.
While aamirates echoed Christie's discomfort with the live feeding spectacle, he pointed out that Harbin winters can reach lows of -30 degrees Celsius and that the tigers are bigger as they're "built for that climate".
TripAdvisor reviews: 'Cruel and disturbing' to see 'obese' tigers
The TikToker's experience at Siberian Tiger Park is not unique. The park has an average rating of 3.4 out of five stars on TripAdvisor, with many reviewers slamming the park's practice of allowing visitors to feed the tigers.
User Laura C, who left a review on Jan 20, lambasted the park for being "cruel and disturbing" and shared an experience that was similar to the TikToker.
"Firstly they have hundreds of tigers, which are solitary animals, living in close quarters and laying in piles together (out of boredom and stress). The tigers are also obese due to being fed unlimited amounts of food by tourists," Laura C wrote.
These appear to be long-running problems at the park.
The earliest review, left in Jan 2019 by user Brian B, stated that most of the tigers were "so overfed and overweight they are largely disinterested".
He added that the park breeds ligers - hybrid offspring of a male lion and a tigress -that are widely seen by animal rights activists as unethical, due to its genetic defects.
Stomp has reached out to @whereischristie for comment.
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