April 8 (UPI) — A Chinese zoo is making some extra cash and promoting education by charging guests $145 for the privilege of cleaning up polar bear poop.
The Wuhan Haichang Ocean Park in Hubei province is offering a service once a week to adult guests interested in spending three hours experiencing the life of a polar bear keeper.
The guests, who must undergo health checks and attend a short training session prior to their shifts, are given the opportunity to prepare food and feed the bears, but their main duties involve cleaning up the bear’s doodies.
“It really costs money to smell poop, but it’s quite funny,” Li Fengfan, 26, a zoo guest who recently took the polar bear experience, told China News Service. “It’s hard to see polar bears, not to mention come into close contact with them.”
Park spokesperson Chen Ting said the goal of the program is education.
“It’s the first time the park has had a program targeting adults,” Chen said. “It is a pilot to popularize science and knowledge of the animal for the public good, not for money. We actually don’t want too many participants as that would disturb them.”
