After outrage was raised in the European Parliament by MP Catherine Bearder over the slated sale of 27 Zimbabwean elephants to China, reports of the luxurious conditions offered by China's zoos were published by the China.org.cn website on Wednesday.
The reporter spoke with keepers at the Nanjing Hongshan Forest Zoo facility who work with a range of animals, including mongooses, hippopotamuses and giraffes.
Located in Jiangsu Province, the luxury zoo has included a number of items, such as heaters, microwaves and incubators to ensure the wellbeing of the creatures that live within its walls.
General zookeeper Hu Lanhua explained that the mongooses were brought over from South Africa in 2013, but required the introduction of the incubators due to the behavior that was observed:
"During the first year we had them, we noticed that they . . . hid in underground holes they dug during cold winter nights. Their body weight dropped by 5 percent one night when they slept in the holes."
The mongooses can now sleep in the incubators when the temperature drops too low. The keeper told the reporter that "they know exactly what they want."
The microwave is also used for the benefit of the mongooses, after the zoo staff noticed that they began to eat more of the meat that was put out after they started heating the meat. The staff discovered that the mongooses also know what they want in regard to their food, as "they like to have warm food in winter."
The hippos also like to keep warm and use a heated indoor pool from late November. Before the introduction of the indoor pool, keepers would pour boiling water in an outdoor pool.