Not cold-hearted, just less tolerant of rule-breakers

On Jan 29, the second day of Spring Festival, a man was killed after he fell into the tiger enclosure while trying to get into the zoo in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province, without paying for a ticket.

The tragedy cost two lives, as the tiger was shot dead when zoo employees tried to rescue the man.

Video posted online shows a tiger mauling the man as visitors scream in horror at the Youngor Wildlife Park. Two other tigers stand nearby watching. Later reports say police shot the tiger that attacked the man while staff at the wildlife park drove the other tigers away using firecrackers and a water cannon.

As news of the incident spread, the majority of voices online blamed the dead man for the animal's death. On Sina Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, there even emerged hashtags such as #Condolences to the innocent tiger or #Sympathy for the victim tiger.

Some said this was a sign that people are becoming more cold-hearted. But they are wrong. People have been displaying increasing enthusiasm for helping those in need and participating in charity work. In 2016, the China Charity Federation received donations of 18.8 billion yuan ($2.7 billion; 2.5 billion euros; 2.1 billion) in total, 46 percent more than donations received in 2015, and sent helping hands to one tragedy after another.

People are just tired of forgiving those who are in the wrong. While the sentiment is right, it has been abused too much. When someone commits a crime, no matter how cruel the crime is, media outlets detail the culprit's miserable childhood and there are calls for forgiveness. When someone smokes in public there are always people calling for tolerance.

People are fed up and angry with lawbreakers escaping their due punishments in the name of forgiveness and tolerance.

But, going back to the tragedy at the wildlife park in Ningbo, the tiger's death shows the park was not well prepared for such emergencies. They did not have any tranquilizer guns that could sedate the animal immediately and save the lives of both the man and the endangered animal.

When a young bear escaped from a zoo in Ohio last year, posing a threat to tourists' safety, the authorities responded immediately, using a tranquilizer gun to capture it. Such guns should become standard equipment at all zoos and safari parks in China that are home to wild animals.

And, on another level, perhaps it is time to reflect on whether zoos and wildlife parks have had their day. As Jason Baker, vice-president of international campaigns for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, noted in a statement after the incident in Ningbo: "Attacks by captive big cats on people - which occur with staggering regularity - illustrate the profound level of stress, anxiety and agitation these animals experience every day of their lives."

In the meantime, it is necessary to make people aware that the animals in zoos and wildlife parks are not domesticated pets, and that visitors need to observe rules for their own safety.

The incident in Ningbo came only six months after one woman was killed and another mauled by tigers after they got out of their car while visiting Badaling Wildlife World in Beijing.

Just hours after the tragedy in Ningbo, some other tourists still tried to avoid paying for tickets by climbing over the wall. A camera even recorded how they quarreled with zoo staff who tried to stop them.

It seems the idea that the rules might be there for their benefit is still elusive to some people. Although the odds of being attacked by a tiger are rather slim, they increase remarkably if one ignores the rules protecting one from the threat.

The man in the Ningbo incident paid for his mistake with his life, but the tiger was killed for his mistake, too.

The author is a writer with China Daily. zhangzhouxiang@chinadaily.com.cn