Animal welfare campaigners have accused a Scots zoo of exploitation after it offered visitors the chance to feed tigers for a £2,000 fee.
Charity One Kind hit out at the attraction in Edinburgh for generating revenue by inviting untrained people to closely interact with the animals.
The hefty bill for the Build Your Own Wild Experience at the capital’s zoo includes lunch for two, a coffee and cake voucher, 30-minute sessions with four different animals and their keepers and the rest of the day to roam about the park.
Guests can feed Sumatran tigers Dharma and Lucu through a wire mesh fence from an area not accessible to the public.
The animals tug the meat, which is predominantly beef, deer, rabbit and horse, from a large pair of tongs.
But Eve Massie Bishop, from One Kind, said: ‘We are completely opposed to this commercial exercise that will exploit these animals to generate revenue for the zoo.
‘It is very concerning that members of the public, without any comprehensive training, will be allowed to get up close to, and in some cases even touch and handle, these wild animals.
‘While a trainer will be on hand, a great deal of trust is put into what will likely be unqualified and under-equipped strangers.
Lucu, a four year old male Sumatran Tiger cared for at Edinburgh Zoo
‘We fear that this could pose a real risk to the welfare of the animals.’
She added the charity was opposed to keeping wild animals in zoos as their needs are unlikely to be met in captivity and continued: ‘We would urge members of the public to forgo this very costly experience and instead opt to support local conservation programmes that focus on protecting these animals in their natural habitats.’
The zoo introduced the experience package with the hefty four-figure price tag with extra adults on the tour costing an additional £1,000 and children £500.
Lindsay Ross, Edinburgh Zoo’s events and experiences manager, insisted the unique experience was secure and visitors would still be outside the main enclosure.
Edinburgh Zoo faces criticism over a ‘Build Your Own Wild Experience’, involving the chance to feed meat to tigers
She said: ‘You don’t get to hand feed the tigers obviously.
‘You use tongs, which are similar to a litter pick and it’s bits of meat from a bucket.
‘You go to where people wouldn’t be allowed because we have multiple stand off areas before the last fence but you go with the keeper so its supervised to make sure nobody puts fingers through the fence.’
She told the BBC the idea came from the success of £5,000 private tours set up during the final year of the giant pandas’ residence in the capital.
It received 17 such bookings before Tian Tian and Yang Guang left the park in December 2023 to return to China.
Other animal parks also cash in with special experiences. Visitors to London Zoo can bee ‘keepers’ of individual animals for around £95.
At Chester Zoo advertisers up to £350 or enjoy packages for zookeepers for a day with a ‘Secret life of the zoo tour’ for £70.
Longleat Safari Park’s most expensive VIP experience that allows feeding big cats and wolves comes in at £395.
