China restaurant offering tea and lion cub hugs criticised by animal groups

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HONG KONG (Reuters) -A restaurant in the northern Chinese province of Shanxi offering hugs with lion cubs while diners have a four-course tea has been criticised by animal welfare groups and drawn condemnation online, however the restaurant says the cubs are well cared for.

Some customers of Wanhui restaurant in Taiyuan city have posted pictures and video clips of themselves cradling lion cubs on China’s WeChat and Weibo platforms.

Wanhui, which opened in June, sells about 20 tickets a day to customers looking to snuggle with the animals as part of a set menu costing 1,078 yuan ($150).

The restaurant told Reuters that it did have lion cubs at the restaurant and that they were taken care of very well, with specialised carers to tend to them.

While some zoos around the world, such as in Singapore or Australia, offer dining experiences near animal enclosures or views of the wildlife, it is rare for a restaurant to have direct physical interaction with wild animals.

Besides the cubs, the restaurant also features llamas, turtles and deer on its page on Douyin, China’s counterpart to social media app TikTok.

Online comments were mostly critical, saying the Chinese restaurant venture was dangerous and not good for the animals.

“This is for the rich to play,” said one Weibo user.

Another user urged action by the authorities, adding, “The relevant departments should take care of it.”

“Tearing lion cubs from their mothers so diners can handle them over afternoon tea is exploitation, not entertainment. These animals are living, feeling beings, not toys,” People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Senior Vice President Jason Baker told Reuters.

He added that the animals were “treated like nothing more than social media props.”

Peter Li, China policy expert for Humane World for Animals, said: “Exploiting wild animals for selfies and marketing gimmicks is not only appallingly bad animal welfare, it’s also potentially risky for customers.”

“Even a young lion is capable of lashing out and injuring a human. So, treating wild animals like props is both morally unacceptable and dangerously irresponsible.”

Last month, Chinese authorities investigated a hotel for offering a “wake-up service” with red pandas, state media said.

The hotel in the southwestern region of Chongqing allowed the animals to climb onto beds to awaken guests.

($1=7.1806 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Farah Master in Hong Kong and the Beijing newsroom; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Alexandra Hudson)