I have a wildlife zoo

The exhibits further confirmed Fang Ye's suspicions!

The display plates must have been directly taken from some template online, as each animal exhibit had the same kind of plate, with only the animal picture and text description changed.

The most hilarious was the Peafowl Garden, with two signs placed side by side.

The template's educational sign read, "For the animals' health, please do not feed."

Next to it, a larger sign blazed with the words, "Enter the Peafowl Garden, feed by hand, interactive experience, feed costs 10 Yuan per portion."

The '10' was stuck on with a piece of white cloth, rewritten over what seemed to have originally been a '5' judging by the traces below.

Walking along, almost every popular exhibit at the entrance had feed for sale.

The living environments of the animals were a mixed bag, with some like the camel exhibit being relatively fancy, with some wall treatments and a couple of large wooden umbrellas, while others were just ordinary, still using traditional iron bar cages, with walls in disrepair and a variety of floors, including cement, brick, and grass.

There was also a 'cute pet' exhibit area, which was actually a livestock exhibit, displaying animals like chickens, pigs, sheep, and rabbits.

This was the only themed exhibit area they had come across on their way!

The rest were quite random with what animals they exhibited: elk right at the entrance, storks further ahead, zebra after the storks, macaques across from them, and peafowl even further down the path.

There were also animal sculptures by the exhibits.

Two very crudely made anthropomorphic rabbit statues faced each other, with speech bubbles beside them.

One rabbit asked, "Got a car, a house, savings?"

The other rabbit replied, "Got love, vegetables, carrots!"

Fang Ye couldn't help but mock, "Wow, they're really suggesting feeding here!"

Imagine a parent bringing their child here.

The child sees the rabbit statues and asks curiously, "Mama, what are the rabbits saying?"

Of course the parent would answer, "The bunnies are saying they want carrots~"

Think about it, it's just a few bucks, why not buy some feed to let the child feed the animals and cultivate some kindness?

The child is happy with the feeding, the parent feels the visit wasn't a waste, and the zoo makes some money.

Many visitors think it's okay to feed the animals as they please, and that mindset is exactly what's being cultivated here.

The duo arrived at the pig exhibit, where some pigs lay lazily on the ground, while others, upon seeing visitors, came up to the fence, raising their heads and grunting, looking at them expectantly, clearly in hopes of getting some food.

Fang Ye was speechless for a moment, truly pigs lived better than elk; at least the pig exhibit had a small house and several big trees, with a muddy floor that was cool to lie on.

He said to Lan Li, "Let's go, let's go, there's nothing interesting left to see."

The "cute pet" exhibit area was not actually the end of Pingjiang Zoo, which was quite large; they had walked less than a quarter of it, with many more animals unseen.

But if they continued, who knew what other oddities they might encounter…

When he previously explored zoos in the cloud, he had visited only the larger zoos, domestically and internationally, as such typical zoos in average cities hardly had any information available online.

With nearly a thousand zoos across the country, not even counting the emerging indoor zoos in shopping malls, things were even more chaotic.

The zoos that netizens usually criticize online are the well-known big ones, for having emaciated animals, poor environments, lack of enrichment, stereotypical behaviors, animals in poor mental health, animals with hair loss or injuries, accusing the animal keepers of not caring properly, and so on.

There were lots of visitors, and therefore lots of attention!

These zoos actually had fairly decent conditions and were always trying to improve, yet they still got a lot of flak every year.

Zoos like Pingjiang Zoo, mediocre but passable, with some exhibits worse off, are actually the norm for most zoos.

If they managed to do slightly better, giving some thought to improving the animals' environments, they were already considered above average!

Really, the improvement of zoos is mainly a matter of awareness, a question of whether there's a will, not whether there's a way.

Gathering fallen leaves and laying them in the cement enclosures is a good form of enrichment.

Obtaining fallen leaves is quite simple, and doesn't cost a penny.

"Eh~"

Lan Li gently sighed. She also felt there was nothing worth seeing; this environment was far inferior to their own zoo.

A two hundred yuan ticket just to see animals like these, and the ones who seemed to be enjoying themselves most were the livestock in the petting zoo area.

But fretting about the money was secondary; it was their first date, and she wanted to create many happy memories.

She cautiously suggested, "Director, how about we go to the amusement park for some fun?"

"Hmm..."

Fang Ye's eyes showed a hint of reluctance. He really didn't want to go to the amusement park! Roller coasters and such were too thrilling, and did this place even have roller coasters? The merry-go-round and bumper cars seemed a bit juvenile, like things only kids would enjoy...

However, he turned to glance at Lan Li, and seeing her eyes twinkling brightly, he found it difficult to voice a refusal.

Oh well, since they were already there, they might as well have some fun.

He checked the time, "It's almost noon now. Let's have lunch at the restaurant near the amusement park before we play."

"Yes, please."

Lan Li revealed a sweet, shallow smile, her eyes curving into beautiful crescents.

In reality, she didn't care about what to play at the amusement park; what mattered most was having fun with the Director.

Once they left the zoo, Fang Ye heard the system notification in his mind.

"Ding! Mission 'Field Research' completed.

Evaluation: You saw a very poor zoo, and you are very unhappy with the flagrant behavior of encouraging visitors to buy feed for the animals...

Reward earned: 'Box for Dumping Animal-feeding Food'!"

Box for Dumping Animal-feeding Food: For the health of the animals, please do not feed them!

Effect: If visitors bring food intending to feed to the animals, they will be more conscientious about throwing it in the disposal box.

"Hey, this is pretty good!"

Fang Ye was pleasantly surprised. The zoo they visited was terrible, but the item given by the system was excellent!

Any respectable zoo's most frequent activity is persuading visitors not to feed the animals.

The most direct method is to scan visitors at the entrance, like a security check, to see if they have any food; any food is confiscated and not allowed inside.

However, this approach is a bit too blunt, because visitors might want to eat their own food, not necessarily to feed it to the animals.

If the food is confiscated, and visitors get hungry while walking around, they can only buy food sold by the zoo, which is definitely pricier than what they might bring.

Although this reduces the chance of feeding animals, it's a bit harsh for visitors.

They'll surely grumble, are you doing this for the animals' sake, or just to make more money off of me?

A better approach is to use a disposal box, allowing visitors to conscientiously throw away the food intended for the animals.

But since each visitor's conscientiousness varies, this is just one means to prevent feeding. It still needs to be supplemented by animal keepers who manually discourage feeding, with explanatory signs at each exhibit detailing the dangers of feeding, ensuring the effectiveness of these combined efforts.

And the disposal box rewarded by the system can enhance visitor conscientiousness!

Now that's awesome.