CLOSER THAN BEFORE: The zoo has swapped its cages for moats, bushes and fences that it said would bring its more than 40 animal species closer to their visitors

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 29, 2019
By: Hung Mei-hsiu and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer and CNA

After a two-year renovation, the nation’s oldest zoo yesterday reopened with a new layout that it

said brings visitors and animals closer than before.

Built in 1936, the Hsinchu Zoo overhauled its aging infrastructure with a no-cage approach to better protect and manage its animals in five areas, where they are separated from the public by moats or bushes and fences no taller than 120cm, allowing people to observe them at a closer distance without disturbing them, the city government said.

Visitors would be able to view all the animals, including orangutans and Bengal tigers, up close, it said, adding that common eland antelopes would be visible from the canteen area.

“Seeing the zoo become a center of tourism again has always been a dream of mine, and now I have seen that dream fulfilled,” Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅) said.
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