As a child, I never liked zoos or circuses because I couldn’t understand what was so fun in watching caged and humiliated animals. Now, as an adult, I believe that animal captivity is wrong to the core since other species have the same rights for life and freedom as we do.

There’s been much debate on the animal captivity lately, and it makes sense why – keeping wild creatures in cages is inhumane, to say the least. Just think about it – not only have we deprived other living beings of their natural habitats by harming the environment, but we also dare to imprison them for our own amusement.

It seems that a zoo in China has found an unusual way to bring people closer to the wildlife without caging animals.

The Lehe Ledu Wildlife Zoo lets big cats and other wildlife species, such as bears, roam free and puts visitors in cages instead. This way, people have the opportunity to get extremely close to the wild creatures without the disappointment of seeing them trapped in small cages, like in the most zoos of the world.

Zoo spokeswoman Chan Llang told the OddityCentral,

“We wanted to give our visitors the thrill of being stalked and attacked by the big cats but with, of course, none of the risks.”

There are chunks of meat tied to the outside of moving cages with visitors in order to attract the animals. At the same time, inside these vehicles, the visitors are protected from being eaten. There are also small openings at the top, through which people can offer food to the exotic beasts.

According to Chan Llang, all the visitors are warned “to keep their fingers and hands inside the cage at all times because a hungry tiger wouldn’t know the difference between them and breakfast.”

However, because of the breathtaking photos of lions and tigers jumping onto the cages, the concept has already received some criticism from people who think it’s too dangerous to bring the zoo visitors so close to the wild animals. According to The Daily Mail, some individuals have characterized this unusual park attraction as ‘an accident waiting to happen’.

At the same time, the zoo appears to be extremely popular despite all the dangers. In fact, when the Lehe Ledu Wildlife Zoo was opened in 2015, the tickets were sold out for three months. It seems that people really prefer to see animals freely roaming their natural habitats rather than being locked in cages.

“It’s nothing like I’ve ever experienced in a zoo before,” said visitor Tao Jen. “We’re not looking at them, they’re looking at us – and we’re lunch.”

What do you think about this concept of a zoo? Would you like to visit it? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Image credit: CEN