Harbin Siberian Tiger Park

Harbin’s Siberian Tiger Park is unique outdoor wildlife conservatory. Which essentially means an outdoor zoo, with Siberian Tigers.

When I was reading up on things to do and see in Harbin, the Siberian Tiger Park kept coming up. Though we were planning to see the Ice and Snow sculptures, this attraction piqued my interest. But when I researched more, I found out that visitors could purchase chickens, or ducks, or even a cow to be fed to the tigers. This, then immediately, aroused myself. Yet, when I mentioned this to my cohorts – Miss Y and Miss C, they were, like, uh, yes to the park and NO to the feeding! (politely). But Mr. Y and Mr. G, were soon on board with me.

When we got there, after purchasing our entrance tickets for 90 RMB (around USD 14 or so), there was a sign for the animals we could buy. There were chickens for 50 RMB, ducks for 100 RMB, a pheasant for 100 RMB, raw beef for 10 RMB, a sheep for 600 RMB, and a cow for 2000 RMB. I had seen another post showing some pictures of a cow being feed. I was kinda excited about getting cow, but I was quickly overruled and we just got a chicken.

After a short visit to the visitor center – which is a small museum and gift shop, you hop on a mini bus to tour around the large park. The park, if you imagine something like Jurassic Park, has tall fences and guard towers all around. There aren’t many trees inside for the shade, but lots of bushes to hide. Occasionally you’ll see a man-made perch for tigers to lounge on when the ground is too cold or hot.

The first few tigers we saw were amazing. They were the tigers you’d see in film, pictures, and tv. Then all of a sudden, a couple of the tigers would get really close to the mini-bus. We were told specifically and repeatedly not to put our arms and hands outside of the bus. These beasts were certainly bigger than I thought.

Then our driver notified us about our little chicken. Too bad we didn’t get to know him, or name him, or even hang out with him. Oh well, but we did hear him, just before . . . he got gobbled. What happened was a small SUV, with cages, came out, stopped, and someone threw a chicken on top of its roof. And within seconds, a tiger leap on top and chomped on Henry – that’s what I’ll call him, killed him, and jumped off with Henry in its mouth. Soon there were a few other tigers milling around the SUV for more food and searching for more Henry’s.

This was an interesting trip, with one regret – we should have gotten a lamp.