foreign consultant of the Beijing zoo   

    Touch Beijing

    感受北京

    foreign consultant of the Beijing zoo

    Carin，the Enrichment Consultant in Beijing Zoo, has been working in the Zoo for four years. Any animal constantly displaying stress behavior in captivity goes to the top of her animal list for having Home Improvements. An otter called Xin Xing meaning the new star became the number one on her hit list.

    Carin told us that when she was a little girl, otter was her favorite animal. However, it made her sad to find a solitary otter in a small cage at Beijing Zoo four years ago.

    Then, straight away Carin put Xin Xing onto the Enrichment teams’ hit list and started the action. The first step was to line the drain area with small stones. This enables the keeper to hose the small stones covering the concrete without the stones washing into the drain. They then built the sand pit initially with bricks, covered the bricks with concrete and then put small stones into the concrete to keep the natural appearance. The use of root systems of an old tree gave the otter a place to play as well as increasing the naturalization.

    At the end of the day when the area was finished Carin and her team members opened the gate and Xin Xing sniffed suspiciously at the door. Then bravely he entered. They all watched as his behavior changed from stereotypic and inactive behavior to a beautiful exhibition of natural exploratory behavior and delight. He explored and dug in his new sand area and finally curled up around his new plants as if he had at last found heaven. Carin says this future enclosure will be greatly improved in terms of environmental, behavioral and social enrichment for the lovely otter.

    In fact, Xin Xing is not the only lucky guy that has been put on Carin’s hit list. During her four years working in Beijing Zoo, Carin has seen a lot of changes taking place there.

    Carin says, in the West, the public now expect animal welfare to be of a good standard and zoos must show they are working towards conservation.

　　北京动物园的洋顾问

    Carin（卡琳）在北京动物园担任环境改善顾问已经4年了。她的一张名单中，列出了所有持续表现有抑郁行为的被捕获动物，这些动物将最先获得居住环境的改善。一只名叫新星的水獭成了她名单上的首位受益者。

    Carin说，童年时，水獭就是她最喜欢的动物。但是，四年前，看到北京动物园里关在小笼子中孤独的水獭的一幕让她十分难过。

    接下来，Carin马上把新星列入了改善名单并开始行动。第一步就是用小石子排满排水区域，这样管理员就可以避免在用水管冲洗地面的时候把沙石冲到排水沟里面。然后就是用砖块做沙坑，为了保持自然形态，在砖头上浇注了混凝土并铺上小石子。他们还利用一棵老树的树根，为水獭营造出一个可以嬉戏的环境。

    经过一天的努力，沙坑终于修好了。Carin和她的同伴们打开了笼门，新星怀疑地闻着门口的气味。接着它勇敢地进去了。他们注意到新星的行为不像以往那样千篇一律和不灵活，而是表现出一种对大自然探索的愉悦。新星试探着挖掘新的沙地，接着卷缩在新植物旁，好象终于发现了天堂。Carin说为这可爱的水獭修建的围栏将在环境，行为和社会三方面得到更大的改善。

    事实上，新星不是唯一的幸运儿。Carin在北京动物园工作的四年中看到了那里发生的许多变化。

    Carin说，在西方，公众期望保证动物福利的高水准，动物园必须显示要向保持大自然原样的方向努力。(编辑：闻山)