Chapter 1449 No Animal Shows, Human Shows

February 4th, Monday.

Tan Xinzhang hesitantly knocked on the door of Tengda's president's office.

"President Pei."

Pei Qian looked up. "Oh? You're here. Is everything settled at home?"

Tan Xinzhang nodded. "Everything's settled. I hired two people to help my father manage the zoo, and I also got through to him, then I came."

It was clear that at first, the old man Tan Yingjiu was quite resistant to the idea of moving the entire zoo to Jingzhou.

Perhaps partly because of his attachment to the zoo, not wanting to see the place where he had spent most of his life become deserted; another part was concern about whether the animals would be well taken care of after the move, and whether they would adapt to the big city.

However, after Tan Xinzhang explained the specific details of the move to him, the old man agreed.

Because Tan Yingjiu was very clear that the zoo was now deteriorating. Although the animals could be fed under his care, the living environment and other conditions were still far behind those of some large zoos.

Moreover, since President Pei had asked Tan Xinzhang to be the director of the zoo, there was no need to worry about the animals suffering.

Although these animals were the apple of Tan Yingjiu's eye, he was reluctant to part with them, but since moving could get them better conditions, it wasn't a bad thing.

Pei Qian nodded and handed over a pre-printed plan: "This is the initial plan for the zoo, take a quick look."

Tan Xinzhang reached out and took it, quickly scanning through it.

"Lengnuan Zizhi Pet Paradise?" (Each person knows his own business.)

A puzzled expression appeared on Tan Xinzhang's face. The name of this zoo sounded a bit improper.

Most other zoos are named after the place where they are located, such as Jingzhou Zoo. The advantage of naming it this way is that you roughly know where the zoo is just by hearing the name.

Of course, some indoor zoos will have names that are more pleasing and memorable. These names may sound diverse, but at least they are catchy and more in line with the zoo's positioning.

But Lengnuan Zizhi... what does that mean?

It always feels like this idiom doesn't quite fit with a zoo!

Although it's a neutral term, using it in this place feels a bit inappropriate. It's only slightly better than "Heaven Strike Pet Paradise".

But he looked up at President Pei and found that President Pei seemed to like this name very much, so he didn't say much and continued reading.

After all, he didn't think he would have more say than President Pei in naming things.

Pei Qian couldn't help but nod slightly.

Well, very good, not asking too much is the first basic quality of an excellent person in charge. Tan Xinzhang has met the standard.

As for why he chose such a name?

Obviously, it has two meanings.

The first meaning is that for tourists, it's *lengnuan zizhi* (each person knows his own business).

This zoo looks good on the surface, with a large area and a decent location, but there's nothing to do inside!

Like the famous dish "looks clear, tastes muddled", this zoo is just an empty shell. No one will have fun here, so for tourists, it's *lengnuan zizhi*.

The second meaning is that for President Pei, it's also *lengnuan zizhi*.

When everyone thinks that this zoo is a mess, a failure, and feels sorry for President Pei, little do they know that Pei Qian has made a fortune because of the zoo's losses and is secretly rejoicing, so this is also *lengnuan zizhi*.

Look at this name, how fitting!

As for whether this strange name can dissuade tourists, Pei Qian doesn't have much hope. He'll dissuade them if he can, and if he can't, so be it. Anyway, this zoo is losing money based on its own abilities.

Tan Xinzhang continued reading, and the more he read, the more surprised his expression became.

What kind of bizarre rules are these?

It would be one thing if the cage area and breeding conditions were far better than those of ordinary zoos. Tengda is rich and generous, which is understandable; but investing in such a huge zoo without raising any rare animals, and instead stubbornly focusing on some of the more common animals, what's the point?

From the layout of the park, it is also incompatible with the basic rules of ordinary zoos. The entire park seems large and empty, leaving a lot of rest space for tourists, as if afraid that they will finish the park in one go, wishing they would get bored after seeing two projects and turn around to go home.

The only thing that Tan Xinzhang found relatively reasonable was the interactive experience, which seemed to be a very novel point.

Some animals are naturally more friendly, so they can naturally interact with people under the guidance of staff.

For example, the arctic fox is naturally friendly. Many arctic foxes in zoos will enthusiastically make eye contact with tourists through the glass, sticking out their tongues and following them from one end to the other, almost like a domestic pet dog.

But it is not suitable as a pet because it is relatively low in intelligence, and it smells quite strong, and the excrement is not easy to handle.

In fact, besides cats and dogs, there are many other friendly animals in the world, but only cats and dogs have become mainstream pets, precisely because other niche pets more or less have some unacceptable points.

But in a pet paradise, this problem doesn't exist.

These animals will have relatively large activity spaces, and there will be dedicated staff to provide scientific feeding and education. Tourists can directly skip the annoying stage of picking up poop and just start playing with them.

Moreover, if some animal training performances can be added, maybe this can also become a unique gimmick?

Thinking of this, Tan Xinzhang said, "President Pei, I have a small question. It doesn't seem to mention animal training performances here? I see there are zookeepers, veterinarians, and other occupations, why is there no animal trainer? If there is an animal trainer, it should be able to further enhance the zoo's competitiveness and better coordinate with the current interactive experience."

Pei Qian couldn't help but frown slightly.

Hmm? Animal trainer?

"That won't do!" Pei Qian blurted out.

Tan Xinzhang was stunned for a moment. "Why?"

Their original private zoo didn't have animal training performances, but that was because neither he nor his father knew how to train animals.

Animal training requires suitable animals, and secondly, scientific training methods. But once successful, it will greatly enhance the popularity of the entire zoo.

Many zoos arrange animal training performances during prime time, and the scene is often crowded and very popular.

Tan Xinzhang had thought about how to save the nearly bankrupt zoo before, and one of them was animal training performances, but he didn't know how to train them himself, and it was too expensive to hire animal trainers, he simply couldn't afford it, he didn't have any conditions, so he had to give up.

But since President Pei has spent so much money to open a zoo, isn't it normal to hire a few animal trainers to do some animal training performances?

Pei Qian coughed lightly and explained, "Animal training performances are... well, it depends on who you ask."

"Whether it's raising pets, breeding, or opening a zoo, it's all ultimately to satisfy humans themselves, there's no doubt about that."

"If you want to give animals the best living environment, you should seal off a mountain and let the animals run freely in the mountains, rather than keeping them in captivity."

"But it's definitely not realistic to turn all places into nature reserves, because human society must continue to develop, and there are still many people who have not escaped poverty. We must first solve the problem of human survival."

"I also don't agree with the kind of behavior of treating animals as one's own parents and stopping cars on the highway to save them, that's very hypocritical. Humans protect animals for the sake of humans themselves, there's nothing to be ashamed of admitting that."

"So, I think the existence of zoos is still necessary, it can allow people in the city to not only see photos or videos of wild animals through the screen, but also to be able to get close to animals. At the same time, protecting animals in zoos allows some animals not to become extinct, and even to obtain better living conditions than in the wild, these are the roles of zoos."

"But... animal training performances, I don't think they're part of that."

"If it's some naturally intelligent animals, trained by feeding them to complete tasks, that's fine; but if it's by whipping and forcing some animals to do things that violate their nature, just to create a gimmick and attract more people to watch, then I think it's very unnecessary."

"I can't control what other zoos do, but in our zoo, I don't want to see that kind of thing."

"If there must be performances... the zoo staff can go on stage to perform! At least it can give them a raise."

Pei Qian paused slightly after speaking, because he accidentally said what was on his mind.

Of course, not wanting to force these animals to do things that violate their nature was indeed his true thought, but another important reason was that he felt it was too profitable.

How much does it cost to hire an animal trainer?

How much money will an animal trainer make if they train a popular program?

The key is that Pei Qian can't even add money, he can't give bonuses to these animals, right?

Giving the animal trainer a raise won't add up to much.

This is definitely an uneconomical deal! He might accidentally make so much money that he vomits blood, and might even make the entire animal paradise popular!

Therefore, Pei Qian simply called a halt to these animal training performances. Using relatively gentle, nature-friendly methods to train dogs is fine, but if it's forced training with whipping, then it's a bit unnecessary.

If there must be performances, then let the zoo staff go on stage to perform.

Anything can be performed, anyway, what talents can people who work at the zoo have?

When the time comes, give more bonuses to each of the people who go to perform and that's it.

Making animals perform is not okay, that's oppressing animals; but making people perform is okay, because you can give more money, and giving more money isn't oppression.

Tan Xinzhang scratched his head, feeling that this zoo was a bit inexplicable.

But he was too embarrassed to question President Pei's decision, so he nodded and did everything as instructed.