February 14th, 2012
A ram named Changmao and a doe called Chunzi have become public figures in China since embarking on an “unconventional relationship”. They met in the winter of ’09 when they were just a lamb and a yearling, and have been inseparable ever since.
Grazers at their zoo were usually kept together with very little inter-species communication, so keepers were astonished at how angry the ram would get when a male deer approached his Chunzi. The doe was seen returning the affection by licking her beau’s hair and even broke through a fence to get to him after their minders felt the need to separate them.
After initially deeming the close relationship ‘unethical’, the zoo staff realised there was no keeping the two apart and arranged for a very special wedding day.
500 Visitors flocked to the zoo today to finally witness Changmao make an honest woman of Chunzi.
Carefully choreographed by zoo staff in the Yunnan Provincial Wildlife Park, the ceremony saw the pair trotting through an arch with “I do” written above it in Chinese. It cost about €7.90 for a ticket to see the union.
Zoo spokeswoman Li Li said of the nuptials: “We want people to understand that love is not limited to a traditional view but has varieties.”
An unconvinced wildlife expert from the Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences remains unconvinced about the pair’s love affair. “Animals are controlled by their own nature and don’t have any sense of love,” said partypooper Zhang Jinshuo.
By Sinéad. Filed under News.
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