Two major zoos defy Chinese order to halt animal acts

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2011:
Guangdong–Defying a nationally publicized order from
Beijing–and claiming it was never received–the Shenzhen Safari Park
and Xiaomeisha Sea World have continued daily animal acts using
birds, tigers, lions and dolphins, the Guangdong Daily Sunshine
reported on February 2, 2011, without hinting at what the Chinese
federal authorities might do about it.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development,
responsible for zoo regulation in China, on October 26, 2010
“suggested” in an official web posting that zoos should adequately
feed and house animals, should stop selling wild animal products and
serving wild animal parts in restaurants, and should stop staging
circus-like trained animal acts, including feeding live prey to
carnivores, because “These activities go against the public good.”

The official “suggestion” was preliminary to an order taking effect
on January 18, 2011, applying to more than 700 animal exhibition
facilities.
“We are hopeful it will have an effect,” Animals Asia
Foundation animal welfare director Dave Neale told Telegraph Media
Group correspondent Malcolm Moore. “I visited the Chongqing zoo
before Christmas,” Moore said, “and their circus was clearing out.”
“The circus at Kunming Zoo in Yunnan Province is closed and
the stage has been dismantled,” reported Deng Shasha of the Xinhua
News Agency in a November 2010 update about compliance with the
federal directive. China Daily in December 2010 added that six teams
of federal inspectors had visited about 500 of the 700 zoos covered
by the directive, revoking the operating permits at seven, and
ordering 50 to change procedures to stop “frequent abuse and
exploitation” of animals.
“Both the security of endangered species and the safety of
the public are threatened by improper management,” said State
Forestry Administration deputy chief Yin Hong.